Two women in right place at right time to find kidnapped child

COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Two young women were in the right place at the right time Tuesday, playing a major role in helping unite a child with his mother after her vehicle was stolen with the baby still in it.

Taeyonna Webb and Nave Dowe said in the moment they found the baby, all they could thing of is his mother and her fear during the whole situation.

Four-month-old Alpha Kamara was in the back of a maroon 2008 Acura MDX with Ohio plates that was stolen from Tamarack Circle Tuesday morning.

The pair said they got the Amber Alerts on their telephones earlier this morning, but the second alert is really what caught their attention.

Child found safe after Columbus Amber Alert 

Webb said she was charging her phone and the Amber Alert went off the second time when she was near the intersection of Ohio and Hildreth avenues.

That is when she spotted the Acura with the license plate that was listed on the alert she had received just moments before.

“I’m driving slow, it’s snow out here,” Webb said. “So I’m driving slow and I see this big red Acura just sitting here and I’m, like, ‘Maybe it’s somebody’s that live here,’ and I checked the Amber Alert again and I see the plates.”

THANK YOU TO THESE HEROES!

Taeyonna Webb & Nave Dowe found the stolen SUV with the 4mo baby inside nearly 4hrs. after the crime occurred.

Deputy Chief Becker @buckeye_becker showed his appreciation at the scene by presenting them with his Division challenge coin.💙#AmberAlert https://t.co/b1y5aNZPUz

— Columbus Ohio Police (@ColumbusPolice) February 10, 2021

Both women said it’s thanks to that second Amber Alert which drew their attention to the SUV and ultimately baby Alpha.

“I stopped, she got out and ran to the car to check if anybody was in it,” Webb said. “There was nobody in the car, but there was a baby.”

“Calm, I opened the door and the baby just looked at me and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Dowe added.

The women then called the police, who later gave them special coins for helping find the child.

Both said they were happy to help, saying all they could think about during the situation was the child’s mother.

“It does because if I was a mother, I know, I know the mother is probably in shock right now, not knowing if she would ever see her baby again,” Webb said.

Both said they urge people to be on the look out when something like this happens again.

“If you see or hear an Amber Alert, don’t just blow past it like, ‘They’ll find it,'” Webb said. “You never know, just like us. I didn’t think I would ever come across a kidnapping car. Like, don’t blow past things like that.”

CyberTipline - NCMEC - Trinity Mount Ministries - Report Abuse! 1-800-843-5678

 

NCMEC’s CyberTipline is the nation’s centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children. The public and electronic service providers can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra-familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the internet.

What Happens to Information in a CyberTip?

NCMEC staff review each tip and work to find a potential location for the incident reported so that it may be made available to the appropriate law-enforcement agency for possible investigation. We also use the information from our CyberTipline reports to help shape our prevention and safety messages.

Is Your Image Out There?

Get Support

One of the worst things about sextortion is feeling like you’re facing everything alone. But you have people who care for you and want to help. Reach out to them!

A trusted adult can offer advice, help you report, and help you deal with other issues. It could be your mom, dad, an aunt, a school counselor, or anyone you trust and are comfortable talking to. You can also “self report” by making a report on your own to the CyberTipline.

Don’t Give Up

Having a sexual exploitative image of yourself exposed online is a scary experience. It can make you feel vulnerable and isolated, but remember, others have been in the same situation as you – and they’ve overcome it. Learn the steps you can take to limit the spread of the content.

Nutrition Crisis Looms as Pandemic Cuts 39 Billion School Meals Worldwide

By 

Agnieszka de Sousa

January 28, 2021, 2:26 AM PST

• Some 370 million children miss 40% of school meals in pandemic
• Many are reliant on school meals for key source of nutrition

With many children reliant on school meals as a key source of nutrition, agencies urged governments to prioritize school reopening. Photographer: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

A global nutrition crisis is looming as 39 billion school meals have been missed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, risking the futures of millions of the poorest children, according to the United Nations.

Closed classrooms mean 370 million children on average have missed about 40% of school meals globally, the UN’s World Food Programme and Unicef Office of Research said in a report. With many children reliant on the meals as a key source of nutrition, the agencies urged governments to prioritize school reopening.

“We risk losing a whole generation,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement. “For many, the nutritious meal they get in school is the only food they will receive all day.”

Healthy and nutritious food is becoming out of reach for millions of people as the pandemic reduces incomes and boosts unemployment. Children can feel the effects of a poor diet well into adulthood, as it can weaken immune systems, limit mobility and even impair brain functioning. Malnutrition can also cause poor school performance, hurting future career prospects.

Food Access

Percentage of the population that cannot afford a healthy diet

Source: FAO

Meal programs can provide incentives for the most vulnerable children to return to school. Estimates show that 24 million children are at risk of dropping out of school due to the coronavirus crisis, reversing enrollment progress made in recent decades, the UN agencies said

33 missing children rescued in major human trafficking investigation, FBI says "Operation Los Angels" was based out of Los Angeles

 

By Peter Aitken | Fox News

A multi-agency human trafficking investigation in Southern California has led to the recovery of 33 missing children, the FBI announced.

A multi-agency human trafficking investigation in Southern California has led to the recovery of 33 missing children, the FBI announced.

At least eight of the children had been sexually exploited, authorities said.

The FBI has seen a spike in human trafficking-related crimes in recent years, with the bureau reporting more than 1,800 pending investigations as of November 2020.

More than two dozen law enforcement agencies and non-governmental agencies participated in "Operation Lost Angels," which began Jan. 11 as part of Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

"The FBI considers human trafficking modern-day slavery, and the minors engaged in commercial sex trafficking are considered victims," Assistant FBI Director Kristi K. Johnson said, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles. "While this operation surged resources over a limited period of time with great success, the FBI and our partners investigate child sex trafficking every day of the year and around the clock.

Several of the children returned to commercial sex trafficking after they were located by authorities, either voluntarily or no coercion, requiring authorities to make several interventions.

The operation resulted in the arrest on state charges of one suspected human trafficker and the opening of multiple investigations.

Not all of the children were the victims of severe circumstances, with one child the victim of a noncustodial parental kidnapping, the FBI said.

In 2020, the FBI initiated 664 human trafficking investigations nationwide, making 473 arrests.

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at (888) 373-7888 or visit https://humantraffickinghotline.org/.

Trinity Mount Ministries - NCMEC - AMBER Alerts - Active Missing Children Posters - UPDATE - 02/ 11/ 2021

Missing Children Posters Below

Active AMBER Alerts

Name	Missing From	Issued For	Alert Date
Breasia Terrell	Davenport, IA	IA	Jul 15, 2020

---

Notice: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® certifies the posters on this site only if they contain the NCMEC logo and the 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678) number. All other posters are the responsibility of the agency whose logo appears on the poster.

Trinity Mount Ministries - Global Missing Children

by Brett Fletcher  @TrinityMount

The reasons why Trinity Mount Ministries posts international missing children cases:

A significant number of people connected to Trinity Mount Ministries, by design, are located in other countries, outside of the United States. This includes law enforcement agencies and personnel, child advocates, organizations and individuals.

Because of human trafficking and child sex trafficking, as well as parental and/or family abductions, the missing children could be anywhere on the planet, as well as down the street, blocks away, in the city or town they live in, in the state and country where they live or other countries.

Parental Abductions

Some have said, "At least they're with their parent(s)."

Response: Just because they (the abducted children) are in the company of their parents doesn't mean they (the children) are automatically safe and that the parents have the child's and/or children's best interest in mind. Many times there have been parental abduction cases where the children are abused and/or murdered. It would be hard to justify parental abductions, based on what happens in many cases.

Child sex trafficking rings work internationally, cartel to cartel, from country to country. Children could be trafficked to the United States from other countries, just as children from the United States could be trafficked to other countries. This is an international problem that includes the United States. Trinity Mount Ministries shares in the global concern for all missing and exploited children.

In short, abducted children can be moved to any place on this planet by their abductors. Whether stranger, acquaintance, family or parental abductions, it should be assumed that the children are in immediate danger.

So, this is why Trinity Mount Ministries posts international missing children cases as well as local, regional and national cases.

Brett Fletcher, MHRS, MS.Psy, Th.G, founder of Trinity Mount Ministries

http://www.TrinityMount.Info

Trinity Mount Ministries - FBI - Suicidal Behavior in Preteens

 

By Tony Salvatore, M.A.

Police officers frequently have contact with suicidal adolescents and teens. It is far less common for them to become involved with younger children exhibiting suicidal behavior, but this may be changing.

Preteen suicides in the United States are rare but increasing. Suicidal behaviors ranging from ideation to nonfatal attempts also are becoming progressively more common in preadolescents.

If current trends continue, police officers and other first responders can expect to receive a growing number of mental health calls involving suicidal children. They also will have to cope with the aftermath of more suicides by children in coming years.

Suicide prevention training for police officers does not usually cover suicidal behavior and suicides in preteens. Agencies must remedy this. Officers may be among the first to encounter this problem in their communities.

Incidence

It once was widely believed that young children did not take their own lives because they could not grasp the concept of suicide.1 However, in the late 1980s, research showed that suicide claimed a number of victims at an early age and that as many as 12 percent of school-age children experienced suicidal ideation.2

Mr. Salvatore directs suicide prevention and postvention efforts at Montgomery County Emergency Service in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Even very young children engage in nonfatal suicidal behavior.3 This creates serious suicide risk in childhood that individuals carry into adolescence, young adulthood, and beyond.

Frequency

Early childhood suicidality has made a mark on the health system in the United States. A review of admissions to 31 pediatric hospitals from 2005 to 2015 found almost 15,000 cases of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts by children 5 to 11 years of age.4

Assessments of children ages 10 to 12 presenting to emergency departments in three urban medical centers found 30 percent positive for suicide risk. One in five of the children had made a previous suicide attempt.5 This suggests that emergency departments should screen for suicide risk in all children, even as early as 10 years old.

Although they may have access to only a limited range of lethal means, young children are capable of suicide.6 In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the first time listed suicide as the 10th-leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 11.7 It was the ninth-leading cause of violence-related death for children ages 5 to 9 in 2015.8

Between 1993 and 2012, 657 children in the United States ages 5 to 11 years old died by suicide.9 This is an average of 33 child suicides per year.

Young children can develop suicide plans readily within their capability to carry out.10 One study found that 1 in 10 children ages 3 to 7 acknowledged thoughts of suicide, expressed what appeared to be plans, and acted in a manner that looked like an attempt.11

Demographics

Early childhood suicidality is more common in boys and is associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder.12

In one study, victims mostly included black male children who died by hanging, strangulation, or suffocation.13 Data on suicides involving children 5 to 11 years old from 1993 to 1997 and from 2008 to 2012 showed a significant increase in suicides of young black children and a notable decline of suicides in white preadolescents between the two periods. This shift has not presented in other age groups. The increase in suicides among black children is a notable departure from the distribution of suicides by race for all ages and particularly for young children.14

Risk Factors and Warning Signs

Suicidal behavior in preschoolers relates to impulsivity, running away, hyperactivity, morbid ideas, high pain tolerance, not crying after injury, and parental neglect.15 A family history of suicidal behavior, exposure to physical and sexual abuse, preoccupation with death, and prior suicide attempts are additional factors to consider.16

Impulsivity is a prominent characteristic of preteen suicides. For children ages 5 to 11, “impulsive responding” to arguments, conflicts, relationship problems with family members and friends, and other adverse environmental and life situations is a trigger for early childhood suicide.17 Children may lack the ability to foresee their lives getting better or to comprehend the temporary nature of some problems.

Notably, mental illness plays a smaller role in suicidal behavior in preadolescents than in older children.18

Misclassification

It can prove difficult to decisively quantify preadolescent suicide because authorities may misclassify young children’s suicides as accidents or otherwise unintentional deaths.19 This represents a particular problem in the black community.20 Preteen suicide victims leave notes less often than teenagers do and have less access to lethal means, such as firearms, which can raise doubts about suicide as the cause of death.21

Misclassification also may result, at least in part, from old beliefs some coroners and medical examiners still share about the suicidal capability of young children. The fact that accidental deaths and unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children under age 14 also can influence this judgment.22 Individuals may not readily see preteen deaths by falls and even by hanging as suicides.

Theory

Most models attempting to explain suicide focus on teens, adults, and elders. However, one theoretical paradigm suggests how suicidal behavior may arise in anyone, including young children. The interpersonal-psychological theory explains how overcoming the natural resistance to lethal self-harm can result in a suicide attempt.23

According to this theory, a suicide attempt may occur when two factors exist: 1) an intense desire to die and 2) the capacity for self-harm.24 The former arises from negative self-perceptions, a poor self-image, and unfavorable social comparisons.25 The latter is associated with a high tolerance to pain, diminished fear of severe injury, and lowered fear of death.26 This “acquired capability” becomes established over time through exposure to hurtful, painful, or violent experiences, such as self-injury, physical or sexual abuse, or bullying.27

Circumstances that contribute to suicidality in young children include—

• decreased self-esteem;
• belief that they hold responsibility for some family problem (e.g., divorce);
• feeling worthless or like a burden to the family;
• not feeling valued;28
• violent interactions between parents, which may cause children to believe they are worthless and expendable;29
• bullying and being bullied;30
• parental abuse and neglect, which may produce self-directed aggression;31
• having a sibling who attempted suicide;32 and
• experiencing conflict, aggression, and abuse in the household.33

Suicide threats and attempts relate to antisocial behavior and hostility toward parents in children 5 to 12 years of age.34 Abuse, neglect, or other trauma in the family may produce suicidal behavior in young children. Research shows that witnessing violence promotes suicidal ideation in urban 9- and 10-year-olds.35 Officers called to a household because of domestic violence must keep collateral suicide risk in mind during their investigations.

Bullying can generate an intense desire to die and the development of an acquired capability for lethal self-harm. Both victims and bullies themselves more likely will exhibit suicidal ideation or behavior compared with children not exposed to bullying.36

“Although they may have access to only a limited range of lethal means, young children are capable of suicide.”

Prior suicide attempts, self-injury, and mentally practicing a suicide plan represent other ways an individual may acquire the capability for a lethal attempt.37 Evidence suggests that these behaviors may significantly contribute to suicidality in young children.38

“Suicide competence” comes with making attempts over time.39 Many preadolescent suicide victims engaged in earlier suicidal behavior.40 Repeated tries facilitate future attempts as the individual accrues lethal experience and skill and sheds inhibitions to suicide.

Histories of multiple increasingly lethal suicide attempts are present in prepubertal children.41 Suicidal teens may have histories of past attempts starting as early as age 9.42

One study found self-injury in almost 8 percent of surveyed third graders (average age 7) and 4 percent of sixth graders (average age 11).43 In this age group, more boys than girls self-injured, and hitting oneself proved the most common method.44 Such behaviors reduce the natural inhibition to self-harm and enhance the risk of suicide.

Preadolescents can make basic suicide plans.45 Mentally going over the plan is one way to gain the ability to carry it out.46 This may occur even in very young children. Children can experience persistent suicidal ideation over time.47 This may be how suicidality in the very young progresses from vague thoughts of death to a concrete selection of means.48

Screening

No specific guidelines exist for police officers to use in identifying suicide risk in young children. However, when dealing with young children troubled by suicidal thoughts, officers should assure them that they are safe and not in trouble and that the officers are there to help. They should use terms children can understand and ask age-appropriate questions.

Screening for suicide risk in very young children is only recommended if high risk is evident or strongly suspected.49 Officers can ask general questions, such as “Do things ever get so bad that you think about hurting yourself?” or “Have you ever tried to kill yourself?”50 Suicide risk screening questions do not harm young children and have not been found to induce or intensify suicidality.51

Identifying suicide risk in this age group relies on interviews with the child, parental reporting, and self-reporting by the child.52 A flexible interview using questions that the child can answer is the recommended approach for determining suicide risk in prepubertal children.53 Parents will serve as the best sources in cases with very young children, and talking with them will avoid upsetting a possibly suicidal child.

A suicide risk screener for young children should consist of a few short questions about recent thoughts and behaviors. Police officers may not need to use a formal screener with young children, but looking at an example of such a tool can be helpful.

One set of suicide-screening questions has proven successful with children as young as 10 years of age.54