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For more than a decade, Million Kids has carried a mission that no family ever wants to need. It is the Million Kids Missing Kids program. It began with heartbreaking conversations:parents sitting across from us, voices shaking, describing the moment their teenager vanished. The fear. The confusion. The unbearable silence that follows when a child you love disappears seemingly without a trace.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we’ve been able to send out thousands of flyers, each one carrying the face of a child who deserves to be found. Those flyers matter. They save lives. And they give families hope in the darkest moments of their lives.

Recently, our community watched the case of Celeste Hernandez, a beautiful young girl whose story ended in a tragedy too painful for words. Our hearts ache for her family. While this loss is devastating, it’s important to rememberthat most cases do not end this way. Many young people are found. Many families are reunited. And every successful recovery fuels our determination to keep going.

On this episode of the Protect & Prevent Podcast (P3 Kids), Opal Singleton Hendershot of MillionKids.org, one of the leading voices in keeping kids safe from predators, takes a look at why young people run. In our experience, a runaway is almost always doing one of two things: They’re either running FROM something or someone or running TO something or someone.

We’ll explore the pressures, conflicts, and vulnerabilities that push teens to leave and the strategies that can prevent a moment of crisis from turning into a lifelong tragedy. Because with the right conversations, the right awareness, and the right support, many of these young people can avoid becoming victims of exploitation once they’re outon their own.

And to every supporter who stands with us: you make this work possible. You help us bring kids home. You help us protect families. And you help us shine a light into places where too many young people feel alone.

This is a conversation every parent, guardian, and community member needs to hear.

For more info and to donate to this 501(c)3 charity, you can reach MillionKids at:

Website: https://MillionKids.org

Email: [email protected]

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