Health Care Professionals

• Consider providing the parent(s) with a handout explaining hospital policies in place to protect the safety of infants. This could be incorporated with other hospital information such as smoking regulations, rules for visitors, etc.
• Nurses are "surrogate parents" and a front-line of defense in abduction prevention, however, protection of infants is the resposibolity of every hospital employee.
• Abduction prevention measures should be reviewed regularly and there should be adequate on-going, in-service training.
• Hospital personnel should be alert to any unusual behaviour they encounter from individuals such as repeated visiting "just to see" or "hold" the infants; questioning about hospital procedures and floor layout; taking uniforms or other means of hospital identification; physically carrying an infant in the hospital corridor rather than using a bassinet.
• Such behaviour should be reported immediately to the unit supervisor.
• Such interview records and reports are to be documented and preserved.
• Designate a staff person who is responsible for alerting other hospitals when there is an attempted abduction or when someone is identified who clearly demonstrates the above-mentioned behaviour.
• Police should be notified of all possible abductions/attempts.

Playing a Role in Abduction Prevention

A Missing child is indeed everyone's responsibility. Everyone has a vital role to play, not only when an infant abduction occurs, but also in minimizing the risk of incidence. The following information will provide specific tips to those in infant abduction prevention.