1999 Marks Significant Milestone as Baby Kidnappings from Hospitals Decrease to Zeroal Philanthropist Turns His Attention to Global Efforts to Reunite Missing Children with their Families

Coordinated Response to Infant Abductions from
Healthcare Facilities Pays Off
1999 Marks Significant Milestone as Baby Kidnappings
from Hospitals Decrease to Zero

Alexandria, Virginia -- Officials with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) joined colleagues from the healthcare, nursing and security industries today to announce victory in the fight to reduce the incidence of infant abduction from hospitals. Since 1983, when NCMEC began tracking the crime, 1999 now marks the first year that not a single report of a newborn kidnapping was reported from a hospital nationwide. NCMEC has worked aggressively with the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the National Association of Neonatal Nurses(NANN), the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety (IAHSS), Mead-Johnson Nutritionals and Sensormatic Electronics Corporation to combat the problem, which had consistently averaged as many as a dozen cases annually.

NCMEC has dedicated the last decade to combating the problem by working to raise awareness about the crime and ways to prevent it. In the last ten years, John Rabun, NCMEC's vice president and chief operating officer, has devoted much of his career to this effort, providing site assessments to 766 hospitals nationwide and training over 50,000 hospital personnel, nursing and hospital security associations and law enforcement officials in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. “These cases are difficult to solve, and are emotionally devastating to new parents and the healthcare professionals who are charged to care for newborns,” said Rabun. “By educating the people on the front line, we’ve driven potential abductors out of healthcare facilities entirely. Of course, our goal is to see that this trend continues,” he added, “and we credit AWHONN, NANN, IAHSS, Mead-Johnson and Sensormatic for their tireless support in collaboratively helping to decrease these statistics so dramatically.”

"Mead Johnson is committed to infant health and safety." said Jerry McCabe, sr. vice-president, global medical sales, Mead Johnson Nutritionals. "We are delighted to be involved with NCMEC and Safeguard Their Tomorrows to provide necessary tools for parents and healthcare professionals to help prevent the nightmare of infant abduction."

NCMEC tracks cases of infant abduction from hospitals and homes and has distributed over 232,000 updated copies of its popular For Healthcare Professionals: Guidelines on Prevention of and Response to Infant Abductions™ since its first printing in 1989. In conjunction with the Mead-Johnson Nutritionals program Safeguard Their Tomorrows I and II™, NCMEC continues to provide a three-hour, nationally-accredited training program on infant security for healthcare professionals to ensure these cases remain a crime of the past.

NCMEC is a private, nonprofit organization that works internationally as a resource center and clearinghouse for information on child victimization issues. Since it was established in 1984, it has played a role in reuniting over 50,000 missing children with their families. For more information about NCMEC, visit its Web site at www.missingkids.com or call its toll-free hotline, 1-800-843-5678.



1999 Marks Significant Milestone as Baby Kidnappings from Hospitals Decrease to Zeroal Philanthropist Turns His Attention to Global Efforts to Reunite Missing Children with their Families