The Big Tweet for missing children

Charity representatives will be getting involved by attending a conference in London and encouraging people to take part in The Big Tweet for Missing Children.

International Missing Children’s Day aims to raise awareness of the staggering 140,000 children that go missing in the UK every year.

Every five minutes a family in the UK finds their child is missing or has running away.

Some of the children we hear about, but many we don’t.

Safe@Last works with children and young people from across South Yorkshire who run away or go missing.

They provide a range of services including a help line, one to one work, a prevention and education programme, detached street work, family support work and an emergency refuge - the only one in England.

The Big Tweet takes place over a 24 hour period and the Missing People charity is asking its thousands of supporters to take part by retweeting its Twitter messages.

Safe@Last (@safeatlast) will retweet as many messages as possible to help increase the chances of a child being reunited with their family.

And the charity’s runaways team leader and project worker Joe Clay will attend a summit in London to mark International Missing Children’s Day.

It will feature guest speakers including Ann Coffey MP, who chairs the all parliamentary group for runaway and missing children and adults, and Jo Youle, chief executive of Missing People.

Then on Sunday 26th May Safe@Last volunteers and mascot will be at Lakeside Village in Doncaster raising awareness of International Missing Children’s Day and the charity’s work across the region.

“We are delighted to once again acknowledge and support Missing Children’s Day which provides a rare opportunity to highlight the plight of young people who go missing from home or care,” said strategic runaway services director Tracy Haycox.

“We fully support The Big Tweet and will be taking part for the second year harnessing Twitter to reach thousands of people and encourage them to help vulnerable children at risk.”

“Safe@Last offers wrap around services to keep children safe but we know across the country there are very few similar services available which is why International Day for Missing Children is such an important tool in raising awareness of the 140,000 missing children.”