Our Kids Matter

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Welcome to Our Kids Matter - a place for parents of missing and abducted children to gather together, learn, support each other, and work to prevent more children from becoming "missing".

I am a mother of three young children who were kidnapped to the Middle East by their father. It's been nearly two years since they were taken away from their mother, and each day, it gets harder and harder to cope. I know the loneliness, grief, and utter despair of being a parent without children. I searched for others who might have similar stories, because I think no one can really understand except those who've gone through a similar experience can. So I created this website for all those parents and loved ones of children who were abducted, kidnapped, or just missing. The goal of this website is to educate and to provide a safe place where we can help each other. Also, it's a place to keep our children's stories alive so that they are never forgotten. I hope this website can provide a place to share our deepest sorrows and our greatest triumphs.

Confidentiality is very, very important. There are many vultures out there who revel in others' misfortune. I met a woman a couple years ago whose three children had been kidnapped by an ex-husband. She put up a website and posted her story online. When I spoke to her, she was very guarded, and when I asked why she no longer had anything about her kids online, she told me, "I started getting prank phone calls that were very cruel. One time, my phone rang at 3:00 am. When I answered it, a man said to me, "I found your kids. They're DEAD". Then he laughed and hung up. I couldn't handle it, so I won't talk online about anything anymore.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there. Some want to just be mean. Others want to take your hard-earned money. There are many so-called "private military groups" who actively look for grieving parents and then promise them that they can recover their children - usually for a very large sum of money. Take it from me - I lost a lot of money to one such group - they hardly ever work. Be as careful online as you would be walking in a dark alleyway at night. When you post on this site or any other site, use caution when divulging identifying information. Once you find someone who seems genuine, then email them privately to share personal details. Every effort is made on this site to protect information, but public posts are just that - public. Be careful and use caution.

Welcome! Helen Keller once said, "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much". Only by getting involved can we make a difference. I know I'm tired of suffering alone. Thank you for coming, and I look forward to meeting you.

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