"Florida Missing Children's Day" Hits Home For South Florida Family
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - According to the Governor's office, each year approximately 41,000 children are reported as missing in the state of Florida.
Additionally, 10,000 adults are also reported missing annually.
In recognition of the thousands of law enforcement officers, their support staff and the countless volunteers who spend their time, energy and resources trying to find them, Governor Rick Scott recognized September 8th as "Florida Missing Children's Day."
The official proclamation states that "Florida recognizes the need for continued awareness to help reduce the incidents of missing children" and that the state "remains diligent in our commitment to safeguard Florida's most vulnerable citizens and will strive to improve our response methods and maximize our resources to bring our missing children home."
To the families of the missing, this day is about much more than proclamations and press conferences.
One innocent decision Ann Clark made in 1983 has led to a lifetime of regret. She wept as she told CBS4's Natalia Zea, "I get emotional because he wanted to drive my car to basketball practice and I said no."
She told her 16-year old nephew Maurice Jefferson, nicknamed "Red," that he couldn't use her car to go to basketball practice. He began to walk instead and never made it.
"It's like the Earth opened up and swallowed him up. Because we haven't heard nothing since that day to this one, what happened to him," said Red's grandmother, Ethel Mitchell.
Mitchell doesn't know if she'll ever see him again. But that doesn't stop her from asking strangers about him every day.
"I don't care where I go. I bring it up. I say I've got a grandson missing and he's been missing all these years."
Red's loved ones attended a small ceremony at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department marking Florida Missing Children's Day. The closeness to law enforcement, and others desperate to find their loved ones again, provides her some peace.
"You come together and you see how other people are surviving with this," added Mitchell.
Both women have been dreaming of Red's return since Ronald Reagan was president. And they have no plans to stop their fight for answers. Mitchell proclaimed,"I may be dead and gone but the truth is going to come out one day."
If you have information on a missing person please call police. And if you just want to help these families, Check Out Current Missing Children Flyers.
As deemed by the state's Legislature, the "first ever" Florida Missing Children's Day was held on Monday, September 13, 1999, according to the Florida Missing Children's Day Foundation.
Click Here for more on Florida's missing children.
RELATED CONTENT:
