I saw the program featuring Kate and Gerry McCann on TV tonight.  Despite not recovering their daughter yet, even after all this time they have not given up hope and this is a real inspiration to other distraught parents facing a similar tragedy.  They should be very proud of all that their relentless determination has accomplished; I believe they have done a really great job.  By maintaining a vigilant focus on their own daughter Madeline they have managed to significantly raise the profile of the plight of numerous other abducted children worldwide on behalf of the many thousands still missing throughout Europe and beyond. 

Like you I feel that the only way an Amber alert type system is going to happen in europe is if we all petition our MP's etc and generally make enough 'noise' about it! 

At saddends me to think that even after horrendous thing like the dissapearance of a dear little child like Madeline newspaper editors are still more interested in selling newspapers than discovering the truth! They are quick to react and to judge others and I fear they often have the problem of 'putting their mouthes into action before they put the brain into gear!'  Shameful though it is until we all stand and be counted so to speak there will always be injustices in this world but we can help instigate change  by following Kate & Gerry's fine example.  I'm a firm believer in the saying 'the straw that broke the camels back' .... if we all add our weight behind this campaign who knows we may just be able to be 'that straw' that a) convinces politicians to adopt Kate & Gerrys proposals b) Save another child/family of this monsterous ordeal c) Maybe just maybe bring Madeline home where she belongs !

GOD BLESS YOU MADELINE ......Wherever you are x x x x x x x x

Our love also goes out to all the McCann family x x x

Amber Alert won't help find Maddie, it is an immediate first response to abduction.  What it does is make sure that the information about the missing child gets to the important people without delay to hopefully contain the abductor to one area and find them quickly.  So if a child is abducted the Media, Ports and Airports, CCTV operators and any other source that might be considered helpful are informed straight away, so they look out for the abducted child in Air and Sea ports, CCTV operators are looking for them, and the TV and Radio send out immediate bulletins so the public are aware and can look out for them.  In Europe this would also include information to boarder police and even putting up road blocks to check for the missing girl.

Sadly it goes no further than that, if these things don't work within the first 24 hours then Amber Alert is highly unlikely to find the child and in some cases in the US the perpatrators have killed the victim immediately they hear the Amber Alert.

The UK already has a similar system in operation, the police control it and decide what is appropriate I believe, but it does the same thing, although we are lucky that we are an island - it makes things a little less complicated.

The UK has no power to insist that any EU member impliments an  Amber Alert type system although we can vote for one if it is raised through the EU.

The McCanns are doing a great job of encouraging it, and it is needed in mainland Europe without doubt, but Amber Alert is a last resort in protecting our children, by the time Amber Alert is used the child has already been snatched.  The front line in protecting children against predators should be parental supervision.