_1 min read_ 1. The point at which the child should be considered missing is the time the parents feel so. Do not wait any further to launch efforts to trace the child.  2. This is an emergency. Take help from all possible resources immediately. Public is a big resource. Transport Related Agencies including Railway Protection Force can be of big help.  3. For efficiency, divide the work among your officers. Divide the work temporally also.Superintendent of Police herself should however lead the effort. Practically, a Standard Operating Procedure will be of great help in doing this. 4. Search the database of [Trackthemissingchild](https://trackthemissingchild.gov.in/trackchild/index.php) ; if not found, upload the information to the portal. 5. Do check the Child Care Institutions. 6. In the unlikely event of the child not being traced even after four months the case must be handed over to the State Anti Human Trafficking Unit. --- There is no one in this world more agonised than a parent whose child is missing. Her most precious asset is missing. Nation's most precious asset is missing. There is no one more vulnerable than a child separated from her source of safety. She is potentially a stone throw's away from such horrors as torture, death, life long exploitation, sex slavery. Mobilise all the resources at your disposal. Do not fall for the story 'the child has run away'. Ran away or lost or kidnapped, the vulnerabilities are more or less the same. Act. And fast.