Edition:
December 2, 2005
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The Friday Flyer Assistant Editor
While working on her safety badge with Girl Scout Troop 624, Tatiana Ziska, age 10, learned about the Polly Klass Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 to help find missing children, encourage child safety and work with policymakers to pass laws like Amber Alert that help protect kids.
As Tatiana studied a child safety kit provided by the Polly Klass Foundation, she learned several important statistics she felt compelled to share with the community as well as with other Girl Scouts in the San Gorgonio Girl Scout Council. The issue became so important to her, she decided it would be her focus as she worked on the Bronze Award – the highest award a Junior Girl Scout earns as she demonstrates leadership and community involvement.
“I decided to do this project after my Girl Scout troop did a safety badge and I learned that only three out of 12 of our girls had ever been fingerprinted,” says Tatiana. “I know how important it is that each child have fingerprints and a description in case of an emergency, so after speaking to the Canyon Lake Police and looking online at Megan’s Law I knew I had to do something.
“After reading the kit I learned that nearly 90 percent of missing children are not abducted – they are lost, run away, or have miscommunicated with their parents,” she continues. “Nine percent of children have been abducted by a family member. Three percent are non-family abductions. Only about 100 per year are the high profile stranger abduction cases, and usually half of these children are found safe.”
Tatiana believes if parents would take advantage of the free safety kits offered by the Polly Klaas Foundation, their kids would be safer.
“The kit includes an ID document, fingerprinting and space for a recent photo and DNA sample,” she explains. “It also includes information about what to teach your kids to keep them safe, and how to do it without scaring them. For example there are rules for adult strangers to follow and, if not followed, the kids should yell, “NO,” and run away to tell a trusted adult. The kit breaks up the age differences so there are different ways to explain to each of your children.”
This information is especially timely in light of recent events that took place in Canyon Hills and Tuscany Hills in which students responded appropriately to what some termed suspicious behavior and possibly abduction attempts by strangers. A Canyon Lake couple has also tackled this subject by beginning a program here called “Samantha’s Pride.” Erik and Jennifer Dodd's story will be told in a future issue of The Friday Flyer.
Tatiana says that, along with the Polly Klaas Foundation, she is working with the Canyon Lake Police Department and Fire Station #60 to pass out the child safety kits to families in the community. “You only need to drop by the CLPD or the Fire Station for your free kit and, if you would like, the police will be happy to fingerprint your children,” she adds.
“I hope that everybody will take advantage of these free kits and make sure that every child in Canyon Lake will be fingerprinted and ID-documented and safe for the rest of his or her life. The kits will be available through the month of December,” says Tatiana.
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