First, remember it is illegal for a child to runaway so go to your local law enforcement, file a runaway report and a pick up order. It is important to take a photo with you and ask that your child’s image be scanned into the system. All fifty United States are on board with 18 or higher as the legal Age of Majority. If you are uncertain as to what parameters your State has set the law summaries in US Legal Law Digest have hyperlinks that reference each State’s Statute.

Second, make a list and start calling all their friends, the parents of their friends and your own family members. Let them know your child has runaway, that you have filed appropriate reports with the local authorities and they are looking for your child. Be firm but nice when you tell them that you will not abide by your child’s friends harboring or giving aid; these acts are considered offenses against the law and you will prosecute the offenders. This usually gets the attention of friends and family who do not want to take your call or offer no help in your search.

Third, call the school your child attends and report the incident to the attendance office and the principal. If you have online access to your child’s teachers email all of them.

Next, pick up the phone and call Hunter Investigations 770.667.7467. As a licensed private investigative firm we are able to investigate this crime and will work with families to find their runaway children. That’s also something each State agrees on: aside from law enforcement licensed private investigators, not common individuals, must be used to investigate runaways and missing persons.

For a related article go to: www.safepassagetransport.com/news/ and scroll to the article dated October 1.

I stayed at a three star hotel this week on the west coast. As I was checking in I noticed a user at the computer doing exactly what I was going to do next: check in for his next flight. The hotel computer was situated where I could even see the website which he was logged in on: Delta, the same one I was fixing to visit. I heard the printer and watched the user retrieve his boarding pass. What convenience. The travel-powers-that-be have actually done something helpful for us. There he goes; now it’s my turn.

Within five seconds I was at the Delta website and the first thing I noticed was the previous user – the guy who just left with his boarding pass in hand – had not logged out. Wow, it’s all right here staring me in the face: his name Roger – I’ll leave out the last name, his sky miles number 203… and the miles in his account with more than 628,000. Roger hasn’t got a clue that he’s left me, a total stranger, access to his flyer account. What did I do? I logged out of the airline website for Roger and signed out of the session.

But here’s is what could have happened:

With these miles a person could book a flight to Hawaii, stay on Waikiki, get a rent car, tour the island and go whale watching all on Roger. While still in his account they may even send flowers to Aunt Martha who is in the hospital recuperating from surgery. Don’t want a vacation? No problem, with just a few clicks they could stoke up on gift cards to your favorite restaurant, movie theatre or retail store. It’s all right there on Delta.com you can find some way to spend the miles you have earned. Some vendors have no conversion fees, you just pay with miles and give them an address where to send the cards – or better yet go to the vendor’s website, download the gift card and print it. Either way in a few clicks of the mouse all of the miles Roger is saving to surprise his wife with a European vacation for their anniversary are gone.

Chances are good that Roger’s not going to even go to the airline website until he’s ready to check in for his next flight – which may be days, or weeks away. By then when he actually notices his flyer miles account is empty there is not much that can be done.

If you’re thinking: that can’t happen because when it comes time to present a credit card to pay for the junk fees the card won’t match Roger and the transaction won’t go through. Wrong. Believe it or not some airlines allow you to store your credit card information on their website for your convenience. If no credit card data is stored, the airlines only ask for: the credit card number, a billing address and the security code that match the card you have presented. From there the vacation is on Roger.

So why did this happen?

More than likely Roger just went up to the box in the top right corner of the window and clicked the X. This only closed the window – his personal session on Delta.com remained active until it timed out. It takes approximately twelve minutes of inactivity for the average airline, banking or retail website to automatically log out due to inactivity. In the mean time, when Delta.com was pulled up from the same computer before the automatic log out was activated Rogers session reappeared.

Still don’t get it?

It’s about internet security. Most people do not realize that when you log in to a website your personal session remains active until you log out or until the website times you out. If you X out of your session you are relying on the website to automatically time you out before a thief finds your unprotected, active session. That’s right, the thief does not have to be at the hotel using the same computer you were.

Roger did not log out, and he, like many of you, did not even consider that someone could come along before the website automatically times out your session and actively use your account. Thieves have computer programs that search cyberspace for unprotected active sessions on random websites; often times that is how internet accounts become compromised. Once they have stolen your active session it’s only a matter of time before they decode your password, enter your account at their leisure and wreak what ever kind of havoc they desire.

So what do you do, quit using the hotel computers?

Using the hotel computer is fine as long as you are smart about it. The most important thing to remember when you are using any public computer is to:
1.   Log out of your personal session from which ever website you are visiting;
2.   Sign Out from your session on the public computer; and
3.   Reverse the process to check and make certain your session is not still active.

Roger? You are welcome.

SafePassage Adolescent Services ® announces the opening of new offices in Tampa, Florida and Huntsville, Alabama.
 
Karen Tisdell, formerly a front line counselor with Three Springs Paint Rock Valley Girls Program has joined SafePassage as a transport agent. Tisdell is also joining the parent company, Hunter Investigations LLC, as a private investigator.
 
"I'm very excited to be part of the SafePassage family and I'm looking forward to be, once again, working with at-risk adolescents," Tisdell said.
 
“SafePassage is fortunate to have Karen on board, said Holly D. Hunter, Owner of SafePassage, adding, "Karen has been serving families in crisis through her work with Three Springs for more than twelve years.  She will be an integral part of our work in serving the needs of families with at-risk teens.”
 
SafePassage has continued steady growth since Hunter acquired the company in 2007.
 
For more information please contact Holly Hunter: 770.667.7467 or visit the website at: www.safepassagetransport.com 

The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs has been working hard to keep everyone in the industry apprised of the developments of the Miller Bill and work to bring about a better legislative resolution to take to Congress. The following summary of NATSAP's position on the Miller Bill is for your review:

While NATSAP strongly supports the intent of this Bill – to prevent child abuse and neglect in residential programs – NATSAP believes the Bill is flawed and will not be effective or efficient in fulfilling this intent. The Bill is flawed because it fails to protect children in state-run programs and because it creates an entirely new federal bureaucracy that will duplicate current state-led child abuse and neglect enforcement programs and state licensing programs. The Bill sponsors litigation against programs because it has no limits on attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards, and creates strict liability for standards that have not yet been drafted.

In addition to their summation NATSAP has made a call to action throughout the industry and needs the help of everyone.

NATSAP is asking everyone to please contact their Congressman immediately regarding your concerns on HR 5876, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. Don't wait do it now.

Ask your representative to add language supporting the application of this Bill to all programs, including state operated ones. Ask your representative to maintain state responsibility for licensing and enforcement. Any federal law should be limited to supporting, not duplicating, these existing state enforcement and licensing programs. Ask your representative to strike sections of the Bill allowing new access to federal courts and unlimited attorney’s fees and punitive damage awards.You can contact your Representative or call their staff in Washington, D.C., using the Capital Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Or go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml to find contact information for your Representative.

Jan Moss Courtney, Executive Director of NATSAP has requested that the following letter be shared with you:

May 2008

Dear Families, Friends & Alumni of Residential Treatment Programs,

In the last weeks you may have received letters or emails asking you to call and write your Representative regarding HR 5876* which was approved by the House Education Committee and will be going before the House as early as this week. Many of you have already done so, and we want to thank you for your support and endorsement of the programs which have helped to change so many of our lives. These requests have provided guidelines and talking points regarding the potential impact of this legislation on therapeutic programs, but how this Bill could impact parents, families and the treatment we’ve sought for our children may still be confusing to some of you. Our intent is to provide talking points regarding this Bill and the potential impact on us!

*CLARIFICATION: There has been confusion with HR 5876 because the title of the bill is “Stop Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008”. While we all support stopping child abuse, the title is somewhat deceptive and doesn’t necessarily reflect the content of the actual bill. Please see the talking points below which outline parent’s concerns with this bill.

TALKING POINTS

• The Miller hearings provided a biased and distorted picture of what many, many families experience with private residential treatment programs, as Miller refused to include alumni and family witnesses for whom these programs were the catalyst for healing. Basing federal legislation on such distortion has potential to seriously damage and compromise this critical level of care.
• Many families have children in state-run or government-run programs. This bill does not protect these children. The Government Accountability Office found significant oversight lapses and exemptions from licensing in these programs which include state run correctional facilities such as military and boot camp style programs, foster care, group homes, and publicly run programs where evidence suggests the incidence of abuse and neglect is higher.
• This Bill gives telephone access to children who have already demonstrated an inability to make healthy, appropriate choices. Allowing this creates great potential to corrupt treatment and allow communication with unsafe contacts. 
• This Bill allows new access to federal courts in the form of unlimited punitive damages and unlimited attorney’s fees and costs. While access to courts should be allowed, this drastic increase of liability may cause liability insurance to be either unobtainable or prohibitively expensive, which could effectively eliminate the residential treatment option of care for our children. 
• This Bill provides authority for Health and Human Services to make any new standards they deem appropriate for the general health and safety of our children. Well intentioned, but ill-thought through legislation has already thrown the parent out with the bath water in many laws effecting our ability as parents to make decisions in the best interest of our children. All standards and regulations should be very clearly thought through, spelled out, and our input given significant regard. 
• This Bill creates a massive federal bureaucracy which duplicates and possibly intrudes upon the state. Not only would this be an enormous expense and confusing in regards to primary jurisdiction over specific allegations, but as a parent it could confuse and impact our ability to seek out and implement the help we need for our children. 

We support efforts to provide unbiased, informed, responsibly researched, well thought through and constructed legislation to protect children from abuse and neglect in EVERY residential setting. However, as written we oppose HR 5876. 

Be a part of our phone campaign!

PLEASE PUT IN MULTIPLE CALLS TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!
You can call many times, even daily and they will log all of your calls.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE OR THEIR STAFF
Use the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or go to https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtmlto find contact information for your representative in the House.  

FOLLOW UP BY WRITING A LETTER
The phone campaign is the first priority, however, if you can, following up with a letter would be extremely valuable.You can write your House Representative and/or U.S. Senators expressing your opinion of HR 5876 and sharing your family's positive personal experience with residential programs (wilderness and aftercare). 

Thank you for making your voice heard in Washington!

Sincerely,

Donelyn Gamble
Alumni Parent

In the case of a missing or runaway adolescent each moment of time that is wasted on assembling information results in more of a head start for your adolescent. According to Promise House, a long standing not-for-profit agency in Dallas, Texas, more than 1.5 million teenagers go missing in the United States every year; more girls than boys run away; and of those that runaway ten per cent will not return home. If your teenager goes missing, your PACK will jump start an investigation with local law enforcement or a licensed private investigations agency.

The process to assemble a PACK for each child may take a couple of hours, but in the long run it will be well worth the time spent. SafePassage recommends that parents use a standard size plain manila envelope so that you are able to make a check list on the front of the envelope and supporting documents will be contained inside. This way in a crisis situation anyone can look at the front of the envelope and at a glance know exactly what are the contents in your PACK.

The three most important things that should appear first on the top of each PACK is the name of your child, their cell phone number and the name and cell phone number of the friend they are closest to and spend the most time with. From there SafePassage recommends the following information be contained in each PACK:

• Names of parents, siblings and current address;
• Copy of birth certificate; Drivers License or Permit; Passport; School ID;
• Recent photograph not more than six months old;
• Photographs and description of the vehicles they are permitted to drive;
• Vehicle tag numbers; VIN numbers;
• Copy of vehicle registration, tracking devices or remote locating service associated with the vehicle;
• Medical and automotive insurance;
• Names and phone numbers of doctors; dentist, orthodontist, chiropractor;  
• Blood type, height and weight;
• Current medications, allergies, diseases or conditions;
• Therapist, Educational Consultant and a brief therapeutic history if any;
• Hospitalization history;
• Cell phones – print a copy of the pages your teenagers monthly cell phone statement;
• Names, addresses and cell phone numbers of, close friends, the person your teenager is dating and photographs of them;
• Names, addresses and cell phone numbers of friends parents;
• Names and addresses of relatives that your child has a close relationship with;
• My Space and Facebook account information;
• Name and address of their Schools, guidance counselor, coach or teacher and parent volunteers who are affiliated with your         child’s activities;
• Extra-curricular activities and the locations and times of the activities;
• Local hangouts such as coffee shops, shopping malls or teen centers;
• Job – if your teenager has a job list the address, phone number and manager;
• Credit Card, Bank Card, Check Card account numbers and photocopies of these cards front and back;
• Finger prints – some parents have these from school safe kids programs.

If you have adopted children include:

• Adoption information, final adoption papers and the name and addresses of biological parents if known.

If you are divorced include:

• Divorce custody documents;
• Addresses of custodial and non-custodial parents;
• Address of child if different;
• Custodial Arrangement;
• Pending Custodial Changes;
• Siblings and their respective addresses.

Some of our Clients have duplicate PACKs for each of their children because their life situation demands it. Decide what is appropriate for your family, assemble what you need and set aside time to keep the PACKs current.

Remember to update each PACK once a month with copies of cell phone records and any new friends or hangouts. From there, any time your child has a change in their personal appearance such as they get piercings or tattoos, change their hair color or personal appearance make a note of it on the PACK and if you are able to obtain a photo include it in the pack.

At least once a year, even if you don’t think anything has changed with your child pull out the PACK and go through it. A SafePassage Client told us that they had missed some pertinent information on one child and that if they had not set aside a time to review their PACK they may have left it incomplete. Be smart; make a PACK.

But don’t fool yourself – that “tradition” is most often a “right of passage”. 

You remember.  Think back – Prom Night.  Remember?  Yep!  That’s right, and now your little angel is about to leave her warm, cozy and protected nest to go to the Prom with “what’s his name”. 

Now are you worried?  You should be.  But I may have a few ideas that will ease the tension in your neck and keep you from making that white-knuckle fist when you see “what’s his name” begin to salivate at the sight of your sweet, innocent little girl playing “dress-up” in grown up ladies’ clothes.

First, be direct.  You can still be polite (although, who cares at this point, right?).  When the boy walks in the door, as your little angel is putting the final touches on her make up for the evening back in her room, just grip his hand like a vice and smile.  Then in a low, soft tone look him directly in the eye and say, “I’m so glad you’ll be escorting my daughter tonight.  She means the world to her mother and me and I would do anything to protect her.  So, I can rest assured that nothing…nothing will happen to her, right?”

At this point, casually lead him over to your collection of firearms in the gun case and show him your favorite weapon, making sure to point out its stopping power.

“I find the Glock Model G36 Compact .45 ACP with a Single Stack Magazine, like the one I’m holding here, (pull back the slide and let it slam shut for full psychological effect) performs most effectively, especially when using 230-grain Hydra-Shok rounds.   Traveling at 900 feet  per second, it’s just a bit slower than say, my 9mm, but, WOW!  What stopping power…unbelievable.  It’ll drop a full grown man…like one your size…dead in his tracks.”  Be sure to chuckle so he thinks you’re really crazy enough to pull the trigger.

Then, just before your little angel makes her grand entrance, tell him you’ll need to make a photocopy of his driver’s license…just to have on file.  I usually let them know that, as a private investigator, I’ll be running a background check on them when they leave - just routine, ya’ know – and if it’s clear then there won’t be any problems. 

Finally, look at them both and say, “No drugs.  No drinking.  And no sex.  Got it?  Now, you two have a nice time.”

She’ll be embarrassed that you were so brazen.  He’ll just be in shock.  And the likelihood of them sneaking off somewhere to have sex will drop dramatically…because all he’ll be able to think about is that Glock and your cold as steel eyes.

Do you think I’m joking?  Not hardly.  Nothing is more precious than that little girl who is suddenly all grown up - or so she thinks.

Don't kid yourself - drug smugglers, slave traffickers and international terrorists are all pouring over the border like flood waters over a collapsed dam…and they look like everyone else. They're hiding inside the wave of illegal alien workers seeking jobs, American dollars to send home to Mexico and the freebies we as a nation give them - from free healthcare to automatic citizenship for their babies born on American soil - delivered by that free healthcare.  And while the hemorrhage of "giveaways" is bad enough, the growing threat of criminal activity and terrorist sleeper cells is worse.  Remember, many of these people aren't from Mexico - they're from other parts of the world that we are fighting against in the war on terror.

Border security is a serious unilateral problem - our problem - but one the U.S. Government is too busy posturing over while the Mexican Government fuels it like gasoline on a bonfire.  Democrats and Republicans alike see the 25-million illegal aliens now in the U.S. as potential new voters, while American Business salivates at the hand-wringing thought of cheap labor.  All the while, criminals from third world countries are operating freely in the U.S.  At the same time, Mexican President Felipe Calderón visits the U.S. and thumbs his nose at U.S. citizens by addressing groups of Mexicans living here and telling them that they are helping the U.S. economy.

During his April 2008 visit to Dallas, Calderón told about 125 advisers to the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, an advisory board to the Mexican government, "The American economy cannot run without Mexican labor, which contributes to the prosperity of this country.  Then he added, "It's not my dream to spend the rest of my life seeing how Mexicans risk their lives crossing the river or the desert to find opportunities."

The Mexican president also talked about how sad it is back in Mexico to talk with so many Mexican citizens about their family members who are in the U.S., illegally of course, and not at home in Mexico with their families.  In fact, during the Dallas visit, Calderón admitted he had family members living and working illegally in the U.S., then had the audacity to joke that he would not reveal their whereabouts until after the U.S. overhauls its immigration laws. 

The way I see it - when a head of state has people, family or not, in a foreign country illegally – those people are often called “spies” and are arrested, tried and convicted of espionage.  Besides, if they miss Mexico and their families so much, why not go back? 

As easy as it is to get here it’s even easier to go back.  All one need do is turn one’s self into the nearest U.S. Immigration or Border Patrol official and one would get a free ride back home to Mexico at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer.

Keep this in mind; brutal drug related crimes continue on both sides of the border - deep into the U.S., as well as in Mexico - as illicit drugs and smuggled slaves flow into the United States side by side with a steadily growing number of illegal aliens and terrorists - and the toll in lives and money spent to combat this problem is incredible.  Last year alone, more than 300 Mexican law enforcement officials died in the line of duty in the war on drugs in Mexico, while, throughout Mexico, over 3,500 civilians have been murdered as a result of drug related activity – an average of 200 per month in the border town of Jaurez alone. 

In response, Mexican President Calderón  has mobilized more than 30,000 Mexican troops to hot spots across Mexico, including border towns like Juarez, to stem the tide of what the Mexican government calls “drug gang” violence.  But there are a couple problems with this; first, these aren't "gangs", these are organized crime operators - highly skilled and ruthless and without regard for borders – and, second, often the very military that has been sent to defend the people of Mexico against this activity is, in fact, working with the drug lords and smugglers.  In fact, over the past two years, the Mexican military has actually crossed into the U.S. - invaded sovereign U.S. Territory - over 200 times and even engaged in gun battles with U.S. Law enforcement as the Mexican soldiers aided smugglers into the U.S. with drugs and slaves.  Want more? How about this - Right now the CIA estimates 50,000 slaves are being moved into, out of or simply being forced to work within the U.S. at any one moment…in jobs ranging from farm labor to prostitution - often using under age girls.  Sound like the warring factions and corruption we see in places like Iraq and Afghanistan? 

Now, if those countries bordered our country how tight do you think our border security would be?  And if those people were kidnapping our innocent girls and forcing them into prostitution rings while recruiting our young men into their organized crime cells do you think we would stand for it?  So why do we tolerate it when it comes to Mexico?

Of course, Congress is funneling $1.4 billion to Mexico as part of an anti-drug assistance package to help in the fight.  But is it enough?

In a recent article in The Dallas Morning News, reporter Alfredo Corchado revealed no less than six military style training camps set up and run by Mexican drug cartels, most within a few miles of the Texas border.  The camps, often temporary by nature or set up on private land, train cartel recruits made up of Mexican army deserters and, shocking as it may sound, American teenagers.  These camps teach commando style attack tactics similar to what we've seen in confiscated footage of Al Qaeda terrorist training camps.  These Mexican drug cartel terrorists operate freely on both sides of the border, like a bad “B” Western movie, killing civilians and law enforcement agents at the rate of thousands per year. 

In fact, if you were to extrapolate the statistics with regard to murders in Mexico at the hands of the Mexican drug cartels it would dwarf the number of American soldiers killed in the Middle East since 2001 – as I said, just in the past year or so, over 3,500 civilians have been murdered in drug related crimes. 

Make no mistake, this is a real war with real consequences and to allow the 2,000 mile border between the U.S. and Mexico to operate like a sieve is placing countless American lives in danger and the American way of life at risk. But we’re supposed to turn a blind eye?

You might open that "blind eye" with a simply criminal background check.

Why is she spending so much time with a new best friend?

Why are his business trips suddenly so frequent?

Where is our star witness?

Attorneys rely on private investigators to gather factual information for court cases. A witness needs to be located or interviewed to help win a case. The activities of an individual may need to be documented to protect children. There are many reasons our clients rely on our services. Based in Atlanta, GA, Hunter Investigations LLC is a full service investigative and consulting agency providing services to attorneys, government agencies, insurance firms and individuals located throughout the country. We get to the heart of the matter quickly and cost-effectively - saving you time and money. To address your issues you need experienced investigators with the right tools and training.

Hunter Investigations LLC provides state-of-the-art surveillance and information procurement. Our investigators receive specialized training in all areas of investigative work from interrogation and interview techniques, to “on location” crime scene investigation and forensic investigation. We have been providing investigative services for over a decade to help people like you get answers and solve problems.

Contact Hunter Investigations today for a free confidential consultation by one of our experienced investigators - we're here to help. Phone: 770.667.7467

We also provide transport assistance for at risk youth and troubled teens - SafePassage Adolescent Services:

• Safe and secure transition for at-risk teenagers
• Compassion for families in crisis
• Respect for struggling teens in our care
• Arrangement of all travel details
• Integrity and confidentiality for all clients
• Quick response to your call
• Peace of mind during your time of crisis

SafePassage Adolescent Services ® is a division of Hunter Investigations LLC, which is licensed by the State of Georgia. Our firm is bonded and insured. SafePassage has gender specific trained agents available to meet the needs of parents in crisis. Call us to learn how professional assistance can reduce your stress and help you resolve an adolescent crisis.