23 Children Are Missing & Could Be in Idaho, Have You Seen Them?

It's every parent's nightmare: a missing child. The mere thought crushes my soul as I think of the fear and emptiness that parents of missing children are experiencing. We went to the database at National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to see the latest on the missing children of Idaho. It's my genuine hope that sharing these will raise awareness and hopefully assist in the search efforts for these children.

According to their website, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children was founded as a non-profit over 37 years ago by John and Revé Walsh. They add that they've taken more than 5 million calls and have assisted in locating more than 367,000 children.

It's truly incredible but also horrifying -- how many of these children have not been found? It's a scary thought but we can all try and do our part. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children even has a program that can prove useful for parents. It's called "KidSmartz" and they utilize various methods to teach what they call are the "4 Rules of Personal Safety." It looks like a fun and kid-friendly way to help teach your children the importance of preventing abduction by practicing "safer behaviors."

They do provide a "Do's and Don't" list that would be a great start to teaching your little ones how to stay safe:

List of Don'ts:

• Talk to strangers
• Hang around people you don't know
• Assume someone is safe to be around based on their appearance

You can look at the full program and more of their lessons here.

Since we last shared a list of missing children, there have been a few changes.