The Starke County Sheriff’s Office is reminding residents about a notification system designed to quickly distribute information when a child or vulnerable adult is reported missing.
The Sheriff’s Office shared an online announcement recently, stating that they introduced the Child Is Missing program to the community and local businesses in 2024. The phone alert system can send automated calls and text messages to registered users within a specific geographic area.
Using digital mapping, notifications can be targeted to a particular radius or specific neighborhoods where the information may be most useful.
Residents must register to receive Child Is Missing alerts. The Sheriff’s Office also notes that notifications may come from an unfamiliar phone number rather than a local number.
The program is separate from AMBER Alerts and Silver Alerts, which have specific criteria that must be met and require approval through Indiana State Police. According to the Sheriff’s Office, runaway children and child custody disputes generally do not meet Indiana’s criteria for an AMBER Alert. A runaway may qualify for a Silver Alert if a medical authority verifies an underlying health condition that places the individual in danger.
Child Is Missing provides another way to quickly distribute information in situations that do not meet the requirements for an AMBER or Silver Alert.
Residents can register online at AChildIsMissing.org or by texting “ACIM” to 99411. You can also register by calling 888-875-2246.
The Sheriff’s Office also encourages residents to share missing-person information posted by trusted sources to help expand its reach.
This program reminder comes in the wake of a case of two missing area juveniles this weekend. The juveniles were ultimately located in Porter County.
