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PEOPLE WILL LISTEN': Kate McCann will join Manchester
charity Safe in the City in giving evidence to parliament |
Kate
McCann is joining a Manchester charity to highlight the plight of
missing children and their families.
The
mother of vanished tot Madeline McCann was today due to tell a
cross-party committee of MPs what more could be done to help the
relatives of runaways.
She was
being joined by charity Safe in the City, which helps young runaways and
their families in Manchester.
The
parliamentary inquiry ' the first of its kind ' comes in the wake of a
major M.E.N. investigation into missing children.
Stockport MP Ann Coffey, who is chairing the four-day hearing, was
shocked by figures we uncovered showing more than 20,000 people were
reported missing in Greater Manchester every year. More than half of
those are children ' with a large number coming from care homes.
Experts
warn runaway and missing youngsters risk falling into the hands of
organised criminals, including child sex rings and traffickers.
The
inquiry was today looking at what can be done to help families when
children disappear.
Later
hearings will address the importance of collecting accurate figures on
missing children and the risk they are at from sexual exploitation and
paedophilia.
Ms
Coffey said she was delighted to have so many high profile people giving
evidence, including home office minister James Brokenshire.
She
said: "It means we can have some confidence that the recommendations
that come out of it will be carried forward."
MPs were
due to ask Mrs McCann what more can be done to support families such as
her own, which was devastated when three-year-old Madeline disappeared
in 2007.
She has
called the problem of missing children a 'global crisis' and is
campaigning for more joined-up thinking on the issue.
Ms
Coffey added: "People will listen to what she says."
Susie
Ramsay, policy adviser at Safe in the City, said her charity was pushing
for specific help for families, who often didn't know where to turn when
a child disappeared.
She
said: "There's a big gap there because a lot of families don't really
know what to do.
"It's
such a difficult time and children are in very dangerous and risky
environments and it's very difficult for families to deal with that." |
