Question for CMs...lost child procedure?

[Prose]

I am on the organizing committee for a large public festival. We are in the process of updating our safety procedures manual. I'd love to hear from any CMs on the boards about what Disney does in these situations. Of course, I don't need to know anything that would get you in trouble. I am just wondering things like - when you have a lost parent, do you have the child stay put with a CM and wait for a parent to find you? Or do you take them immediately to a central location? Do you shut gates both in and out if the parent cannot find the child, or just out? If anyone else works in a public venue and has procedures in place, I'd love to hear them, too...

Mods, please feel free to move this if this isn't the right place to post this question. Thanks!

 

[LaurenT]

I'm not a CM, but I brought a lost boy up to a CM before...
They use an internal phone system.
Lost boy tells CM he is lost. CM gets on phone and reports it.
Parents tells another CM they lost their boy. That CM gets on phone and reports it.
They put the two together and reunite the boy and parent.

 

[ssleblanc]

Years ago I worked at a fairly large zoo. All lost parents, and children separated from their lost parents were brought to the front gate to "hang out" with the security guard also stationed at the entrance. Any employee who encountered a lost person would contact security and deliver said lost person to one of the roaming security guards (either on foot on on a golf cart), who would bring them to the front entrance office to wait. News that a lost person was at the front gate was then broadcast to all personnel who carried radios, with a last known location.

 

[elphie101]

If we encounter a child separated from their group, we stay with them and call security as well as our supervisors or managers, who have radio contact with security. As mentioned, a description of the child will go out internally and that was if a group approaches another CM saying they've been separated from their child and the description matches, they can be reunited. I'm not 100% positive since I've never encountered this before but I believe if a child is alone for an extended period of time, the CMs will bring them to the baby care center in the park until their group is located.

This is specific to how we do things in the attractions field, other roles might operate a little differently (for example, custodial CMs have radios on them like our supervisors/managers that we in attractions do not).

Hope this helps!

 

[WDSearcher]

Lost kids are just that at WDW -- Lost Kids. All urban legends aside ... they are not child abductions, and so WDW does not do a park gate lockdown or anything like that.

They have a pretty basic procedure: When a lost child tells a CM they're lost (or the CM asks why the child is crying or another Guest brings a lost child to a CM), the CM radios for either Security or a Manager. They keep the child entertained and keep the child local, since the parents almost always either double-back to where they've been, or they're in the area screaming their child's name. Parents who have been to WDW a number of times know that Town Hall is the "lost parent zone" and will usually send one parent up there while the other continues to retrace steps.

If it becomes apparent that the child's family isn't looking in the right place (that is, no one has come running for the child after a reasonable amount of time), the manager or Security CM will escort the child to Town Hall. Usually, by that time, the parents have been found or they're on their way to Town Hall as well. If not, then the child hangs out at Town Hall with CMs and Security until the parents show up. Everything is usually resolved in less than 20 min.

 

[VLee]

Not a CM, but it sure does help to put some kind of ID on the child such as a card in pocket or written on a label of clothing with a cell phone number for the adult. They make ID tags that can be slipped on tennis shoes. Adults need to know exactly what color shirt, etc, the child is wearing. And ifthe child is old enough, teach them to memorize your cell number and name.

 

[Prose]

Thanks, everyone! That's pretty much how we've handled it in past years -- all committee chairs have radios and can communicate instantly, and we have a Guest Services location that has served as the place to bring wandering little ones. We wanted to formalize our procedures and were interested to hear what others are doing.

The worst case of lost parent we ever had was one year a parent basically "dropped off" her very small child at a booth run by a local art organization that was doing craft activities. Before anyone realized what she was doing, she disappeared for hours while she went had had some beers and listened to some music. When she finally showed up at lost and found for her child, she thanked us for watching him...hello???????

And don't get me started on all the various types of animals people try to smuggle in and how.....

 

[MyGirlLovesTink]

The first time we went to Disney, my daughter was 2, I bought a child location device. Essentially you have a device that velcros to your kid's shoes and it responds to another device that you keep on you, attached to your bag or keychain. If you lose sight of your child, you press the button and it emits a loud noise. I never had to use it, but good to have as back up, especially when you are going to such a crowded place.

 

[kadesha]

I think they eventually end up at the Baby Care center. I was going in with my daughter and saw a family being reunited inside.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

Pretty much what the other CMs said. I would add that we were always taught to get down at teh child's level to make yourself less scary. We were taught to introduce ourselves, and, if the child was small, tell them that we work for Mickey and that we are going to take good care of him/her. It was always stressed to bet down on one or two knees so that you weren't towering over the child. We were also never supposed to refer to the child as lost when the child was able to hear us. It was always a "lost parent" situation.

 

[dimndgal1]

Six years ago, We were at WDW with extended family when my 8 year old cousin wandered out of the shop we were in prompting a scary few minutes. We were at the shop adjacent to the former princess/Pooh M&G and my cousin made it out of Toontown to the teacups.

We had been waiting for two groups to finish M&G and the older kids were shopping. My 12 year old cousin leaned to tie her shoe and stood up to see her sister was gone. We reported to a cashier who verified the child was indeed not immediately nearby. She then made a phone call. We then had a supervisor appear almost immediately who took info - description, last seen - and radioed it over a walkie talkie. Within a minute or so, security arrived and took more info - any favorite rides or characters. I was outside of the store, then, and saw more security in the area. Within no time, they came over the radio saying they had found her. They walked us to her and verified the reunion - just made sure she recognized us.

All told, it was maybe 7 minutes from initial realization on our part to discovery... I was impressed and my cousin learned a scary lesson.

 

[mom2rtk]

Lost kids are just that at WDW -- Lost Kids. All urban legends aside ... they are not child abductions, and so WDW does not do a park gate lockdown or anything like that.

They have a pretty basic procedure: When a lost child tells a CM they're lost (or the CM asks why the child is crying or another Guest brings a lost child to a CM), the CM radios for either Security or a Manager. They keep the child entertained and keep the child local, since the parents almost always either double-back to where they've been, or they're in the area screaming their child's name. Parents who have been to WDW a number of times know that Town Hall is the "lost parent zone" and will usually send one parent up there while the other continues to retrace steps.

If it becomes apparent that the child's family isn't looking in the right place (that is, no one has come running for the child after a reasonable amount of time), the manager or Security CM will escort the child to Town Hall. Usually, by that time, the parents have been found or they're on their way to Town Hall as well. If not, then the child hangs out at Town Hall with CMs and Security until the parents show up. Everything is usually resolved in less than 20 min.

No to be confused with a free babysitting service!

 

[Berlioz70]

I just wanted to add one other safety feature at the parks...

If a substaintial amount of time passes and a family is not reunited, they are escorted to a specific area.

Guests 13 and younger are taken to location A and Guests 14 and older are taken to location B. ONLY after a description is matched correctly are the two parties united. For obvious safety reasons, adults are never taken to location A and asked, "are one of these your kids?"

 

[MyHappiestPlace]

About 10 yrs ago while I was working at DHS, I noticed one of my fellow cast members had located a missing child. Cute kid who was pretty calm all things considered....then I realized it was MY DAUGHTER!! Her father had taken her to DHS (we were divorced and he had no idea where I worked) and she was separated from his group. Can't believe it happened in my location and that I was able to help reunite them - he wasn't too thrilled about me finding out he had "lost" her

 

[JMSMommy]

scariest night of my life was the Friday after Thanksgiving 2011 - we were in Epcot, and on our way out just ahead of the Illuminations crowd (we had not stayed to view it, but heard it ending as we exited a ride and headed out the front). We stopped with the two littles (then age 3 years and 1 day and 4.5 years old). The then 8 year old, was looking elsewhere and kept walking.

I didn't notice he was gone because I was dealing with the two girls in the stroller. My husband didn't notice he was gone because he was getting the stuff ready to get out of the stroller. My then 12 year old...well, he was oblivious anyway.

A few minutes passed and I realized my 2nd son was NOT with us. I looked around the immediate area, and yelled for him. We were by Spaceship Earth, heading into the monoliths. We looked...and yelled...and looked. The great WAVE of people were coming toward us. I could NOT find my son. My husband ran ahead, we parked the girls IN the stroller with the 12 year old and told them DO NOT MOVE, and parked them in a well lit out of the way location. 12 year old was responsible enough for that, and the girls were buckled in. I ran back up and asked a CM for help.

The great WAVE of people started pouring pass me.

I will NEVER EVER forget the look of pure panic in the CM's eyes as he realized we were missing an 8 year at PARK CLOSING the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING at EPCOT! ACK!!!!!

6 CMs immediately started helping us, I had a photo of my son and they started looking...or rather TRYING to look through the mass of people.

10 minutes later we found him. Shaking, pale, terrified, and clinging to the turnstiles. Completely alone. He knew NOT to leave the park without us, but all the people pouring past him he thought we'd already left and he'd missed us. He told us he was terrified of what would happen, but he remembered us telling him to STAY PUT and we'd never leave him there no matter how much he might want to stay at WDW for the rest of his life.

I realized then how very easily it would be to lose a child at a park closing, and that is exactly WHY my kids will have stricter instructions this coming trip. And "Safety Tats" and Child ID tags....and I will ALWAYS take a photo of them in their outfits daily.

 

[dsnyrn]

C~ What a scary adventure for your son and you.

We are taking our granddaughters 6&9 and I am going to put a bracelet on them with our phone number and name. My husband wants to dogie leach them!! LOL

 

[I love FP]

This is such a great question. I can't help but not to reply.

If the child is lost they are usually brought to an attractions CM. That CM usually can't leave there position so they call a leader. The child will stay with the Greeter CM until the leader show up. Then they ask the child a few questions and try to get them to calm down, if the previous CM hasn't already done this. The main thing the leader needs to know is if the child knows what there next destination was. If the child does not, then you walk the area with or without the child (depends on if the child is comfortable with the CM they are standing with, if they are you do not want to upset the child then we will search the area ourself trying to use the description the child gave, which is usually not a very good one) for 15 minutes and notify other CMs in that area that you have a lost child. Important things to ask the child, Are you with mom dad or both? Do you have any brothers or sisters? How old are your brothers or sisters? What hair color is mom or dads? What color shirt do mom or dad have on? Depending on age most these question are hard to get straight answer(you'd be surprise how often the kid is so scared they can't remember moms hair color or shirt). But the brother sister party size question helps because then you are looking for a group of people rather than an individual face. If you can't find the parents in 15 minutes, I'll call our central lost child facility and give them the name and description of the child and let them know I am heading that way. Then the child stays at the central location for the park. Normally the last part doesn't happen because in the 15 minute walk of the area, you usually find the parent.

Now if the parent comes up to and says the child is lost, it's a totally different procedure. These are a lot tougher because the parent is in a panic and not thinking rational at the time (understandable). The main goal is to try to calm the parent, get a description and find out what direction they had came from. Usually we call other people on radios in that vicinity and let them now we have the parent and description of the child. If the child can not be found in 5-10 minutes I call central lost child place and ask if they know anything. They take the name and description. Then I try to get the parent to go to the central location (not an easy task). I let them know that if the child is found by another CM anywhere else in the park then they will be taken to that location so they need to be there. I also let them know that they have to go to that location so security will be notified (that location takes care of taking down important information and if necessary send a page to all security units to be on the look out for a missing person).

I hope this helps your area to come up with some great ideas how to handle these situations.

 

[flyergrad09]

I used to volunteer at a large children's science museum in my area, and the only thing that we did in a lost child/parent situation that hasn't been mentioned involved how you hold the kid's hand while walking to guest services/wherever the lost child place is. We were instructed to offer our first two fingers to them and they could hold onto our fingers, but we were not allowed to wrap our fingers around their hands. The thought was that if we weren't who we said we were, holding a strange child's hand looks more like you're forcing the kid to go with you. This way, it's very clear to any passersby that the kid is holding on to you out of their own free will. It might seem a little over-protective, but all it takes is one person to be upset for things to get blown out of proportion. As my trainers told us, the rule is there to protect us as adults.

 

[flortlebap]

No to be confused with a free babysitting service!

You joke about it, but my SIL is a nurse and apparently it's a regular occurrence for parents to drop babies off on a Friday night claiming they're ill and then leaving them there until Sunday. Difficult to imagine what goes through these peoples minds...

 

[nchulka]

Pretty much what the other CMs said. I would add that we were always taught to get down at teh child's level to make yourself less scary. We were taught to introduce ourselves, and, if the child was small, tell them that we work for Mickey and that we are going to take good care of him/her. It was always stressed to bet down on one or two knees so that you weren't towering over the child. We were also never supposed to refer to the child as lost when the child was able to hear us. It was always a "lost parent" situation.

This is great advise. My son, then 3, lost me at Six Flags. He was at the play area and wandered out the other exit looking for me. He was walking around looking for me when this teenage kid (six flags employee) just walks up and takes him by the hand and starts walking him to lost children. My son is upset because he knows I am at the playground and this person is taking him away from the playground. The guy tells him that he is going to take him to find his mom and my son goes nuts. Just the week before we had been talking about the wolf in sheeps clothing and how if anyone ever says they are taking you to me they are lying and trying to steal you. My son thinks he is being stolen and freaks. Starts screaming and running away. Of course he is no match for a teenager and is quickly overtaken. The guys picks my son up and starts carrying him, all the while my son is hitting and kicking him. Of course no one stops to help since it's obvious to everyone else that this is an employee, not an abductor. Lost parents is empty except the two of them. My son makes many attemps to break out of the room. The employee can't figure out why the kid won't just sit down and play with the toys and wait for his mom. Within about 5-10 minutes we tracked him down at Lost Children and he was rescued. He is 8 now and still vividly remembers the time he was "kidnapped".