They are all home now . . . 5,192 of them

[Deb in IA]

The missing children from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Final hurricane-displaced child, family reunited
5,192 Gulf Coast children were without families after storms struck


Updated: 11:24 a.m. ET March 22, 2006
NEW ORLEANS - When 4-year-old Cortez Stewart was reunited with her mother and five siblings in Texas last week, it closed a happy chapter in the sad story of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Cortez represented the last of 5,192 Gulf Coast children listed as missing or displaced after the storms struck more than six months ago. The effort to reunite those youngsters became the largest child-recovery effort in U.S. history.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children worked with the FBI, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Postal Service, Red Cross and other agencies to reunite children separated from their parents or guardians when Katrina hit on Aug. 29 and Rita hit just a few weeks later.

“I can’t say that there aren’t a few children that may have been missing and not reported to us, but we received more calls than anyone else did, and all our cases have been resolved,” said Bob O’Brien, director of the center’s missing children division.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11909504/


I truly can't imagine being separated from and not knowing the status of my children for more than 6 months . . .

 

[Rajah]

Wow. I'm so thankful that they've been reunited. I don't even have kids, and I can't imagine going that long without knowing their status.