Child Abduction:Knowing the Facts

The outline to the delivered speech you can find on YouTube. Subscribe to K Turbizzz! And you will see, I am a MUCH better writer than speaker!

Informative Presentation: URL https://youtu.be/2mViPDAAo7M
Kelli Turbes
Topic Selection
General Topic: Child Abduction
General Purpose: Inform on an issue.
Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about the different types and circumstances of child abductions with facts and statistics.
Thesis: To be as knowledgeable as possible about child abductions is the key to preventing such tragedies.
Organizational Plan: Problem-Solution
Audience Analysis:
Audience members include my sister, Anna, who just turned 18; my boyfriend, Drew, and my son, Taylor, who are 28 and 11, and also two of Taylor’s friends who are also 11. Drew and I share a two-year-old son together, and although the remaining audience members do not have children of their own, they either live with younger siblings, babysit children often, or live just one block from a public park. Having children in their lives, and being children themselves makes child abduction an issue everyone in my audience should be interested in knowing more about.
Most people are aware of child abductions, however those who are parents are more aware and cautious of this issue as those with younger siblings, and much more than those who are not paying rents or who do not have children in their lives, are. Anyone who has children or are around children should be very open and eager to know as much about this issue as they can.
Given that my audience members are not parents, the minors in the audience who are 11, are most likely not knowledgeable in the issue of child abduction. The level of information that would be best for me to start with would be basic information and following that with more explanatory information.
To help my audience understand the issue of child abduction a little bit better, I plan state common myths and follow them up with the facts associated with child abductions and giving ways to help lower the chances of a child abduction happening in their families.
Organizational Plan: Problem-solution pattern of arrangement.
Child Abductions: Knowing the Facts
Introduction
A) One of parents’ worst fears is child abduction.
B) However, you do not have to be a parent to fear child abduction.
C) I have four children, and I can safely say that any one of my children being abducted is my number one all-time fear.
D) Dr. Reeves, January 2005 states that the key to helping prevent child abductions, is through knowledge and planning. (fact)
E) Once parents can squash the myths and obtain the correct information, they can then go ahead and teach their children what to do when a sketchy situation occurs in their life. Without the facts, we cannot protect the children in our lives from these predators.

Body
I. There is an enormous amount of misinformation surrounding child abductions.
A) David Finkelhor of The Washington Post, May 2013 states five myths about missing children that need to be squashed. I will give four myths and follow them up with facts to bust those myths (facts)

Transition: Myth #1

1. Most missing children have been abducted by strangers.
a. Stranger abductions are the most feared type abduction because they appear random and most often involve rape and murder. However, this scenario only accounts for about one-hundredth of one percent of child abductions. (statistic)
b. The last comprehensive study estimated that number to be 115 in a year.
c. Much more common are children run-aways, injured or lost children, and children taken by family members or family acquaintances.
d. The only scenario more unusual than the stereotypical stranger abduction is when families falsely report a child missing attempting to hide the fact they murdered their own child.

Transition: Myth #2

2. More and more children are going missing.
a. When a child goes missing, it is usually highly publicized. Therefore, the numbers may seem to go up, but they are actually going down.
b. Cell phones have helped tremendously by allowing children to call for help; cell phone records can also uncover a more sinister story for those teens who did not simply run away.

Transition: Myth #3

3. The internet has made kidnapping easier.
a. When the internet was first born many years ago, it made it extremely easy for predators to groom children and eventually meet and abduct children.
b. The internet has made MUCH progress since the stone age of the internet. Internet forensics and parent guided apps geared specifically to monitor children’s internet activities make it easy to know if your children are in a situation that leaves them vulnerable.

Transition: Myth #4

4. Prevention lies in teaching children to avoid strangers.
a. This long-time “stranger-danger” mentality has major flaws. Everyone is a stranger at first. So, this can potentially confuse a child if you are trying to teach them it is okay to seek help from a police officer, teacher, or another adult that they have never met but are the right people to go to for help.
b. We know that the majority of abductions happen by people who are not strangers to the child, so teaching our children how to recognize adults who are behaving sketchy such as trying to touch them or to get them alone etc.

Transition: Stranger danger = no.

II. Kid’s Health, January 2013 gives ways to talk to children about strangers the RIGHT way and how to recognize adult’s bad behaviors. (examples)
1. Never accept candy or gifts from a stranger
2. Never go anywhere with a stranger
a. Predators often use appealing words and gestures to coerce children into going somewhere with them such as “can you help me find my puppy” or even bringing their own puppy or pet as a sort of nail in the coffin because it is hard for children to resist a cute puppy as we saw earlier.
b. Tell your children to run away and scream things like “this is not my parent” if someone tries to grab them or put them in a car.
c. Make sure your child knows their name, address, parents names, where they work and other important demographics.
3. Tell your child to say no to anyone who tries to touch them inappropriately (this does not have to be a stranger, this pertains to anyone)
a. Make sure your child knows that it is OK to tell you or a trusted adult if someone has tried to touch them inappropriately or tried to get them to leave with them somewhere EVEN if someone tells them not to tell or threatens them not to tell. THIS IS IMPORTANT.

Transition: And finally,

4. Always ask a parent for permission to leave the home.
a. Children sometimes leave the home or go outside without telling a parent. When this happens, it leaves no way for the child to be found unless there is a witness.
b. Stranger abductions usually happen close to home, on their own street or sometimes even in front of their own house.
c. Stress the importance of asking a parent’s permission to leave the home AND to even play outside.
d. Always be wary of adult strangers pulling up to a child in front of their house, this is not normal either.

Transition: Now that we have busted some myths and talked about prevention, let’s talk about what we have learned as a whole.

Conclusion

A) The much-feared “stranger abduction” is the main reason there are so many myths surrounding this issue. The fact is, the majority of children who go missing are abducted by family members or someone the family is acquainted with. This renders the term “stranger danger” useless for those situations. The key to preventing abductions committed by strangers is knowledge: teach your kids the signs of a bad adult and bad behaviors.
B) The biggest fear of many parents is that of child abduction, but to be fair, anyone with children in their lives fear the abduction of those children. The amount of knowledge one has on this issue is the best way to keep our children safe.
C) And I hope that is what I have done for you all today. I hope you can leave here today, knowing the facts, and knowing how to talk to children about strangers in the right way, and therefore, making it the most difficult it has ever been for predators to abduct our precious, innocent children.

Thank you, and good night.



 
Works Cited
Collie, Craig J. R. and Karen Shalev Greene. “The Effectiveness of Victim Resistance Strategies against Stranger Child Abduction: An Analysis of Attempted and Completed Cases.” Journal of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling, vol. 13, no. 3, Oct. 2016, pp. 277-295. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/jip.1457
Finkelhor, David. “Five Myths about Missing Children.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 10 May 2013, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-missing- children/2013/05/10/efee398c-b8b4-11e2-aa9e- a02b765ff0ea_story.html?utm_term=.6895916e9276.
Miltenberger, Raymond G. and Laurie A. Olsen. “Abduction Prevention Training: A Review of Findings and Issues for Future Research.” Education and Treatment of Children, vol. 19, no. 1, 01 Feb. 1996, pp. 69-82. EBSCOhost, mwlproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db= eric&AN=EJ519935&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Reeves, Dr. Patsilu. “Prevent Child Abduction with Knowledge, Planning.” Edited by Karen Page, Mississippi State University Extension Service, 16 June 2005, extension.msstate.edu/news/feature-story/2005/prevent-child-abduction-knowledge- `planning.
“Preventing Abductions.” Edited by Steven Dowshen, KidsHealth, The Nemours Foundation, 10 Jan. 2013, kidshealth.org/en/parents/abductions.html.
“Preventing Child Abduction.” Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services, vol. 42., no. 12, Dec. 2004, p. 12. EBSCOhost, mwlproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db= rzh&A N=10657857&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Reviews

[ZakLeonRamsey]

I like it little bit but it is rather lengthy.

[Kelli April]

It was required for an assignment. My speech delivery can be found on YouTube. K Turbizzz. It is much shorter, but I am horrible at Public speaking 😂😂no critiques on public speaking, please!

I am aware that this outline doesn’t necessarily follow the traditional path and vision as most work on this site. The reasoning behind this madness is that I wanted all of my work to be in the same place. Creating a resume seems easier this way.

[Kelli April]

Thank you for your review!