Around 100 people packed the event space of the Hotel MTK in Mt. Kisco., all sharing the same goal: trying to solve outstanding missing kids cases in Westchester County.
For three days, more than 70 agencies worked together, including the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, or DCJS.
DCJS official Tim Williams said having everyone in the same room was a winning strategy.
“The ability to sit down, be assigned to this and say, ‘OK, for three days, I’m going to do nothing but work on missing children cases, or missing person cases,’ is why we’re so successful,” he said. “That’s why the number is at 43 as we talk right now.”
While they have closed up shop at Hotel MTK, authorities are still chasing down a few leads they developed during their three days. But that’s just one part of the operation. Service providers were also on hand to make sure that kids actually got help once found.
Because many kids that go missing leave home because of issues in their previous situation.
“Understand what the push or the pull was for them to leave and how to really support them, to stay home and stabilize and to really thrive,” said Nina Aledort from the New York state Office of Children and Family Services.
Alongside law enforcement agencies and state offices, the National Child Protection Task Force was there to lend a hand. The task force is a group made of mostly volunteers who assist in finding kids through means like the use of technology and social media.
CEO Kevin Branzetti said this collaboration must be duplicated across New York to protect kids.
“It must be not just around the state, but the hope is around the country,” he said. “There are a lot of problems in our society. This is a fixable one and it just takes the simple thing of prioritizing our missing kids.”