Keeping Your Students Safe From Child Abductions (Celia Joseph, Fisher & Phillips)

A loud, beeping Amber Alert and accompanying visual banner filled the homes and screens of area television viewers on the evening of January 14, 2013, announcing the abduction of a five-year-old student from a Philadelphia elementary public school at 8:50 a.m. that morning.

According to media reports, the child was dropped off at school by her mother. A short time later, a woman wearing what was described as Muslim garb, with her face covered, entered the school office, scribbled her name on a sign-in sheet but did not show any identification. The woman told school representatives that she was the child's mother and wanted to take her daughter out for breakfast. The woman then was allowed to enter the child's classroom, where she asked for the girl by name.

The substitute teacher in charge of the room released the child to the woman, who then took the child from the school. It was later learned that the woman who picked up the child was not the child’s mother. Early the following morning the child was found alone in a neighborhood playground outside of Philadelphia, hiding under the bleachers. The child was brought to the hospital and then released. Read More!