The
parents of children who have
disappeared have marked
International Missing Children's Day
with a special service.
The ceremony was held at Leicester
Cathedral - the day particularly
poignant to the city because of the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann in
Portugal two years ago.
According to the charity Missing,
since then 1,200 young people have
disappeared.
Madeleine's parents, Kate and Gerry,
launched the event last week but
were not at the service. Other
members of the McCann family were -
all working together to try and
raise the profile of all missing
children.
On Friday, Mr and Mrs McCann met
with parents of other youngsters who
have disappeared.
At an event on London's South Bank,
the couple spoke of how they could
not bear to meet other families in
their situation in the weeks after
Madeleine vanished from Praia du Luz
in 2007.
But they explained they now draw
strength from sharing their
experiences.
Mrs McCann said: "It's easy to meet
families where the children have
been found because that gives you
hope.
"But, obviously, emotionally it is
quite difficult to put yourself in a
situation where a child has been
missing for years and years.
Obviously now it is easier, and I
have to say it's been a comfort."
Her husband added: "Early on Kate
and I couldn't even entertain the
idea of speaking to another family
whose child was still missing,
particularly for a long time,
because you think, 'I just hope we
don't get there'."
The McCanns appeared alongside the
relatives of Katrice Lee, who was
two when she disappeared from a
supermarket in Germany in November
1981.
Mr McCann explained that speaking to
the Lee family had been especially
helpful because of the similarity of
their situations.
He said: "What they have gone
through is very similar, and the
whole experience is similar,
particularly the barriers that they
faced. And an abduction in a foreign
country adds a different dimension
to everything that you face."
The McCanns, from Rothley,
Leicestershire, made a heartfelt
plea for the public to keep thinking
about missing children even after
they slip out of the headlines.
The event also heard from ChildLine
founder Esther Rantzen and experts
who spoke of moves to improve
information-sharing about missing
children both within the UK and
abroad.
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Independent Television News Limited
2009. All rights reserved.
