Team Effort Sees Valor Howell Reunited with Family

Today, MCSC was recognized in the AMECO newsletter for our hard work in reuniting Valor Howell with his father Garrett. As an international association of nonprofit organizations, AMECO provides an unified voice on issues related to missing and exploited children and their families, and nurtures credible, ethical and effective nonprofit member organizations.

One of the most quick moving and more complicated cases MCSC has ever worked on, it is especially with thanks to our partners at WestJet for enabling us to bring Valor home!

The following story of successful teamwork was written by Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC), an AMECO member organization.

CALGARY - On May 29, 2011, Garrett Taylor received the incredible news that his son Valor had been found. The boy had been missing for nearly 7 years - abducted by his non-custodial mother at the young age of 3 years old.

In the days that followed, the world learned the incredible circumstances of Valor's location. The boy was discovered when his mother was arrested in Arizona for causing a disturbance in a laundromat. The police identified that the woman was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for abducting her son almost 7 years earlier. One week later, the boy was reunited with his family and back at home in Kelowna, BC.

Garrett Taylor (left) and his son Valor Howell (right) reunited.

On the surface, the reunification seemed to go quickly and smoothly. In reality, it was an extremely complicated ordeal - one that involved an incredible amount of assistance from many organizations.

MCSC investigator, Wendy Christensen, describes the team effort that took place:

"Four days after Valor was located, MCSC was contacted by the BC Central Authority on The Hague Convention and by the Association of Missing and Exploited Children's Organizations (AMECO) with a request to help facilitate the reunification process. While we were not involved on an investigative level in this case, our team took action to connect with networks in Canada and the US to begin streamlining Valor's entry into Canada.

Thanks to WestJet - a long-time Search Partner of MCSC - we were able to immediately coordinate transportation for Garret to fly to Arizona to pick up his son and for them to return to BC.

We connected with the RCMP and other organizations involved letting them know the flights had been arranged. Concerns were then raised as to whether Valor, now 10 years old, would be able to return to Canada as it was believed he only had an expired passport. While we continued to liaise with our partners and various government contacts to work out Valor's paperwork, we contacted WestJet again to let them know about this possible roadblock.

The WestJet team jumped in again, connecting us with contacts that were invaluable to making this reunification possible. The WestJet team became involved on a level that I can honestly say was amazing.

There were so many challenges that weekend, I questioned whether we could make things happen. Without WestJet's Jenifer Van Meenen, Mack Cyrzan and John Watts, it could not have. They reached out to contacts that I was unaware that they had and made a very problematic and challenging case almost seamless.

They even took care to ensure that WestJet staff were available to provide the two with anything that they ne

eded during their trip. The selfless and caring acts that they performed that weekend leave me feeling humbled to say that very least.

Our thanks and appreciation is also extended to the RCMP, the Central Authority in BC, Canada Border Services, the Association of Missing and Exploited Children's Association (AMECO), the Canadian Consulate, Child Protective Services in the US, the police department in Chandler, Arizona and their Victims Services Unit, and US Department of State and the Canadian and US Airport Authorities."

From all of us at MCSC, welcome home Valor!

See the full AMECO newsletter here

$10,000 reward announced in Tamra Keepness case

 

MCSC reward for information marks 7th anniversary of disappearance

Tomorrow, July 5th, marks 7 years since little Tamra Keepness vanished from her home in Regina. In an ongoing effort to encourage the public to come forward with information, the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) has announced a limited-time offer of $10,000 for information leading to Tamra’s whereabouts. The reward offer boosts the $25,000 reward that is currently being offered by Regina Police.

“Someone out there knows what happened to Tamra,” explained Bob Moseley, a former police detective and an MCSC Investigator assisting in Tamra’s case. “We are offering them an opportunity to help find this child, and to collect a sizeable reward in return. But this is a limited time offer, and we need the public to come forward now.”

MCSC’s reward of $10,000 will expire in one month on August 6th, 2011. Until that time, someone who holds a key piece of information in Tamra’s case has the chance to collect a total of $35,000 in combination with the Regina Police’s reward offer.

Help us raise awareness on the disappearance of Tamra and the reward being offered by visiting our Facebook page and sharing the photo of this poster to your network – because the search must continue.

Donor Update: Courtney Struble Case

With support from the Missing Children Society of Canada, the RCMP Historical Case Unit based in Saskatchewan has now declared the case of missing child Courtney Struble a homicide.

Courtney has been missing since July of 2004. 13 years old, Courtney finished watching a movie with friends and declined a ride home, instead walking along Highway 39 on the western outskirts of Estevan. She has not been seen since.
The Saskatchewan Lifestyles reports:

Corporal Robert Zentner from the RCMP unit said they studied all the information compiled by the other agencies during their investigations, and then decided that they were dealing with a murder case.
We have had an opportunity to … listen to all of the statements, and piece together the events that were taking place at the time that Courtney disappeared," said Zentner. "From there, based on obviously our experience in working with other missing persons or homicide cases, we believe, obviously, that something bad happened to Courtney Struble on the night she disappeared."

MCSC is proud to have worked closely with the Estevan Police Service in making strides forward in this case. MSCS was able to dedicate countless hours of research and investigation with donations from the residents of Estevan and surrounding areas. We are both proud of our donors for their never ending belief in our mission, and humbled by their ongoing support.
Thank you! It is because of you that our search can continue.
See the full article here.
To donate to the MCSC, click here.

Help us Light the Way Home on May 25th, National Missing Children’s Day

Help us “Light the Way Home” for Missing Children

On May 25th, 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz kissed his mother goodbye and started off to catch the school bus waiting just two blocks from his New York City home. It was the first time Etan had ever been allowed to walk to the bus stop alone. His mother, Julia, stood and watched as her son playfully made his way down the first block. In those few moments it would have taken Etan Patz to walk the remaining block, he disappeared.

There are thousands of horrifying stories just like Etan’s all across North America, stories of children who seemingly vanish without a trace. For the families of these children, the years can go by without any answers, and pain and emptiness remains a constant companion. Hope may begin to fade.

In commemoration of all missing children, the anniversary of Etan's disappearance was designated as National Missing Children’s Day across North America.

In Canada, the Missing Children Society of Canada coordinates our national “Light the Way Home” campaign each May leading up to National Missing Children’s Day on May 25^th. Now in its 16^th year, our Light the Way Home campaign aims to reach out to all Canadians from coast to coast with our message of how they can help us light the way home for our missing children. We rely on the community’s support to help us continue the search for missing children.

This May, we ask you to lend your support in a variety of ways:

1. Show your support for our searching families by sending a personal "Message of Hope". Your heartfelt and touching messages are collected and shared with our searching families as a show of your support in their continued search. The response we get from these messages is always overwhelmingly emotional. Visit us online at www.mcsc.ca to submit your message.

2. Light a candle at 8:00pm on the evening of May 25^th in remembrance and in hope of all missing children. This simple act is a touching way for you and your family to make a personal connection with the hope and commitment we share with searching families everywhere.

3. View our online directory of Missing Children and help us continue the search by making an online donation at www.mcsc.ca.

Over 50,000 children are reported missing in Canada every year. That's an average of 1 child every 10 minutes. Together, we can help Light their Way Home.

MCSC announces official partnership with Child Find Alberta!

At MCSC, we are excited to announce a landmark relationship in the search for missing children in Canada by forging a partnership between the Missing Children Society of Canada (MCSC) and Child Find Alberta (CFA).

Officially announced today via a video press release, the new partnership will see the two organizations officially collaborate in reaching their common goals. Both organizations see the huge potential in combining our assets – CFA with their expertise in education and MCSC with our expertise in investigation and reunification.

MCSC is thrilled to have the chance to work with CFA and we look forward to sharing all the exciting projects and successes that come of it!

Click here to see the official press release

We’ve got good news. And more good news.

First, the good news.

We are helping more families and locating more missing children than ever before. Last year, we successfully closed one missing child file every 4.5 days.

Missing children like Maribel. This little girl had been abducted by her non-custodial mother and taken to Romania in March 2010. After nearly a year of navigating red tape and negotiating with international authorities, we were thrilled to reunite Maribel with her father, John Galle, in Toronto this February - just in time to celebrate her 6th birthday.

Our in-house team of retired police detectives and highly trained investigators are on the frontlines of our many cases - just like Maribel’s - following up on credible tips, and connecting with our law
enforcement networks. Our active investigations are supported by key tools like our Child Search Alerts, reward offers for information, our online directory, and our anonymous 24-hour toll-free tip line or our confidential email tips.

We are the only non-profit organization in Canada that is actively searching for missing children - and we’re honoured to be keeping the search alive every day.

Now for more good news. You can be part of our support team:

1. Give Help: You can directly support our search efforts by making a donation.
2. Give Hope: You can show your support to our searching families by sending us your personal Message of Hope on the enclosed message card. We will share your message with them.
3. Take Action: You can take a personal action to stop child abduction in your community by joining our I STOP movement.

Please donate today to help us continue the search for missing children like Maribel. Your donation can help us bring more children home.

Thank you for being part of the search.

Sincerely,
Amanda Pick
Executive Director

MCSC honoured by Calgary’s Mayor

We’re thrilled to be kick starting our Light the Way Home campaign with a special recognition letter from Calgary’s Mayor Naheed Nenshi!

MCSC is very proud to work for families of missing children across Canada – our mission to reunite all missing children with their searching families is something we hope will inspire all Canadians. We feel very honoured to have the support of Mayor Nenshi and his team!