Father Continues Quest to Improve the Search for Missing Children

The past few months have found Wayland's Tony Loftis busily working to ensure the parents of missing children have more tools at their fingertips than he did when he was in their shoes just 10 months ago.

Loftis' 13-year-old daughter ran away from their Wayland home in November 2011. For days, Loftis engaged every possible method, including leaning heavily on the power of social media, to keep his daughter's story in the traditional media and top-of-mind for people from Wayland all the way to New York City and beyond.

All his efforts paid off; his daughter was found safe in a New Jersey home 12 days after disappearing. Loftis credits his prior experience with and commitment to social media with bringing his teenager home safely, but he also knows he had to navigate that experience without a map.

"No other parent should have to [do] what I did, having to figure out how to create a social media campaign on-the-fly," Loftis wrote in an email update.

With that in mind, he worked with industry professionals to create a social media toolkit for parents of missing kids and to establish his organization, Find Your Missing Child, to get that resource into the hands of parents and organizations around the country.

"We've gotten further, faster than I thought we could get," Loftis said. "I'm amazed at how much progress we've been able to make as an organization. It speaks to the fact there is an incredible need for what we are doing."

But his work isn't finished yet.

Later this month, Loftis will travel to Utah where he will have the chance to present Find Your Missing Child and the toolkit to industry leaders during the Association of Missing and Exploited Children's Organization's (AMECO) annual conference.

AMECO is an international association of nonprofit organizations and works to "[nurture] credible, ethical and effective nonprofit member organizations and [provide] a collective voice on issues related to missing and exploited children and their families," according to its website.

"My presentation at the conference will allow me to introduce the guide to every major accredited missing persons organization within the United States and Canada," Loftis said in an email update. "We will encourage these organizations to share the guide with the families that they serve."

In addition to simply presenting the guide, Loftis will also offer a tutorial to attendees on using social media.

Loftis told Patch he has also set aside time to interview attendees on video about their tips and best practices when it comes to helping missing and exploited children.

"We will share the video with all AMECO members to create a best practices library, the first of its kind in this community," Loftis told Patch. "AMECO members can use the video library for their newsletters and websites."

Loftis has worked with AMECO throughout the creation of the social media toolkit and said he has been thrilled with their support in "embracing somebody they didn't know" and "pushing this project forward."

When he returns from Utah, Loftis said he will continue to work on making FindYourMissingChild.org a robust and informative website -- it's a goal that will require plenty of funding.

Lofits is in the process of certifying his organization as a nonprofit. While the nonprofit paperwork is in the works, Loftis explained, Find Your Missing Child has a fiscal sponsor in the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, which means donations are already tax deductible.

"I remember thinking, 'Somebody should do something about it,'" Loftis said, reflecting on having find his way through the social media landscape when his daughter disappeared. "Then I realized, 'I am somebody.' At the end of the day, we're going to help a lot of people."