Home Invasion Abduction

The recent abductions during the middle of the night of Danielle Van Dam of Southern California and Elizabeth Smart of Salt Lake City, Utah have brought the struggle for vigilance home for parents.

In truth, abduction from the home in the dead of night is nothing new. The Lindbergh baby was abducted and killed during the first part of the 20th century. Now, as the 21st century dawns, such crimes have a wider scope of publicity. While this proliferation of media outlets has the potential to chill the hearts of more parents, it also brings with it the possibility of making more parents aware.

Parents have long known that the home has to be a safe place. This ranges from covering electrical outlets to having monthly fire drills. Now parents are reminded that safety includes keeping abductors out.

Teach Children to Resist
Teaching children to resist is preferable, better that a child be shot in their bedroom for resisting than to be shot and dumped by a roadside. In fact, a child predator is unlikely to fire a weapon anyhow, lest it alert the parents or family dog. It's not reasonable to expect a child, woken from a dead sleep, to be thinking clearly. Instead, the abductors know that the child will be disoriented and confused. The best a parent can hope for is that a child begins resisting as soon as they become more clear-headed, if that occurs at all.

Unfortunately for parents, this means that the home will have to become more secure, both during the day and night hours, since abductions can occur while children await their parents' return from work. This can be a problem for people who live in places where summer temperatures soar, which is pretty much everybody. It's too hot to sleep if the windows are locked shut, particularly if air conditioning is not an option. So what to do? In addition, fire professionals will tell you that it's safer in a fire if the doors to your children's bedrooms are closed, yet you can hear them better if they're open. Abductors know all of this, and they use it to their advantage.

A Solid Alarm System: The Canine
One fairly reliable alarm system, if allowed in your building, can be picked up at your local animal shelter. A family dog can be a powerful deterrent to criminals of all kinds. And it doesn't have to be a mighty Great Dane in order to intimidate. Stories of toy poodles and Schnauzers who barked enough to make intruders flee fearing detection abound, making them ideal for apartment dwellers.

Dogs have a keen sense of hearing and smell, and can detect changes in your home long before any human would. Yes, an abductor is determined, but he also doesn't want to be caught. Sometimes, all that stands between their success and your heartbreak is a small dog (or a large one).

If allergies are a problem in your home, know that poodles, from the Tea Cup through the Standard sizes have "wool" rather than fur, making them one of the few dogs available to the dog-allergic.

Invest in a Room Monitor
Sometimes, however, a dog is not an option, whether it is because of schedules, or rental agreements. Another inexpensive monitoring tool is the trusty room monitor used by so many parents of newborns. These range from about $20 new to much more for the ones that include color monitors, and can be purchased even cheaper at second-hand children's stores. While not a guarantee, they can provide a direct line from your bedroom to your child's, particularly if you are on opposite ends of the house or differing floors. In the case of Elizabeth Smart, a 14-year-old, a monitor may not only be out of date, but inappropriate and/or resented.

Be Wise About Windows
Which leads to the matter of cooling the house. In the Salt Lake City case, the abductor entered through an open kitchen window. Anyone with children who are mobile knows how easy it is for windows and doors to be left open and unlocked. The best way to ensure that all unnecessary windows and doors are secured before bed is to have the last adult person who goes to bed take a walk around the house. By delegating this task to one person, there won't be confusion about who left what open.

Still, it's neither realistic nor particularly healthy for people to remain locked up in an unventilated, stifling house during the hot summer nights. There are window locks for every type of window that allow the window to be opened a certain amount, but no further. This, combined with the use of an inexpensive fan can be helpful if air conditioning is neither affordable nor installed.

When Home Alone
When kids are home during the heat of the day, waiting for parents to return, safety must still be considered. Do your kids call you when they get home? Are they sure they locked the door? What do they do if a stranger comes knocking? Who are trustworthy neighbors that they can call, or should they call the police? Are all numbers posted clearly near the phone? Do you have an answering machine so your kids can screen all calls when they are alone and only pick up the calls from you or people you approve of?

Do your kids leave the house once they've arrived back home? Would you know? Do you call at odd times to check? Are there alternative types of programs or child care that you could use to ensure that your children are under adult supervision instead?

The best insurance that our kids remain safe is diligent, dedicated supervision 24 hours a day. This simply isn't a reality, especially as your children grow older. But there are ways to make your home more inhospitable to an element that, first and foremost, does not want to be caught. Nobody has complete control over the actions of others --- even in his or her own home. Even with the best precautions, the unthinkable can still happen, and does. As a parent, you can only do your best.