Find Madeleine: Countdown to Christmas - Focus on 12 Missing Children

Missing Children - Help Find My Child

· Countdown to Christmas campaign,

· 12 Days of Christmas - Missing Children Campaign

· Focus on twelve missing children from the UK

· Using Social Networking – Facebook and Twitter

December 13th marks the launch of a new Twitter and Facebook campaign by Help Find My Child (HFMC); a registered charity committed to the search for missing children Worldwide. HFMC specialises in combining the latest technologies with the incredible power and reach of online communities such as Twitter and Facebook.

Our Countdown to Christmas campaign, starting on the 13th December and culminating on Christmas Eve, will focus on twelve missing children from the UK, each having one of the 12 days of Christmas dedicated solely to them and their story.

We will update our Facebook page each day and on Twitter each morning at 8.00am we will send out a link to the blog of the missing child featured that day. The Tweet will also be sent to celebrities who will be asked to re-tweet, using their considerable influence to increase the profile of the child, the campaign and the issue of missing children.

The Christmas period has been chosen for the Twitter campaign as it’s such a traumatic time for those whose children are missing: Instead of a time of joy and happiness these parents face a huge void and soul-crushing pain. Kevin Gosden Father of missing teenager Andrew Gosden describes his experience:

It’s a pain most of us thankfully will never know. The biggest gift we can give these parents and their children this Christmas is to take a few minutes to memorise their precious child’s face and look for them as we do our Christmas shopping. We can take a few moments to encourage others to pass on the Countdown to Christmas link and to re-tweet. It could possibly lead to a family being reunited and a child being back where they belong.

“We still have gifts left for our son in 2007; unopened, untouched. We will go to church but there will be an empty space on the pew beside us. We will sit down to dinner with an empty place at our table and one less cracker to pull. We will open our gifts and enjoy giving them but inside will wish we had an extra one to give to the most special of people.

We will light a candle and wonder if it really can signify hope after so long. We will hug one another and still ache inside because we cannot hug one more much loved person. I don’t think we really know what to do with Christmas any more in our house. Not since Andrew went missing. “

1. Help Find Missing Children provide a service parents hope they will never need. For parents of a missing or abducted child it’s perhaps the worst nightmare anyone can endure they need our support and a rapid response. Help Find My Child (HFMC) are here to raise awareness for missing children by using the latest online technologies to get alerts out fast. Further information see our website : http://www.helpfindmychild.net/

2. The 12 children focused are listed below with links:

12. Donna Keogh - Missing aged 17, Cleveland 1998
http://www.helpfindmychild.net/donna-keogh

11. Daniel Entwistle - Missing aged 7, Norfolk 2003

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/daniel-entwistle

10. Hayley Evans - Missing aged 17 - London 2010

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/hayley-evans

9. Mohammed Serok - Missing aged 16 - London 2010

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/mohammed-serok

8. Paige Chivers - Missing aged 15 - Blackpool 2007

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/paige-chivers

7. Charles Watkinson - Missing aged 8 - London 2006

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/charles-watkinson

8. Leanne Foreman - Missing aged 15 - Staffordshire 20
http://www.helpfindmychild.net/leanne-foreman

5. Jordan Ratcliffe - Missing aged 16 - Manchester 2008