engleski

The visibility of a hotline for missing children in Croatia

In 2007 the European Commission adopted a Decision (2007/116/EC) requiring the member states to reserve a six-digit number range starting with 116 for services of social value in the EU. The first telephone number – 116 000 was reserved as a hotline for missing children. This number is operational in 29 European countries. The Center for missing and exploited children has been running this hotline in Croatia since 2013. The European Commission ordered a study of the visibility of 116 hotlines in 27 member states in 2011 (Special Barometer 387). A lack of awareness of missing children hotlines among the general public was identified as a major problem for a full implementation of this service. Following the European Commission study, we created an online questionnaire and launched it at the end of March 2017, using a snowball sampling. The present study investigates the result of the visibility of 116 hotlines, and specifically the hotline for missing children in Croatia, and compares it with the results of European study. The research questions were: (1) Are participants informed about the existence of the 116 hotlines (missing children, child helplines, helplines for victims of crime, emotional support helpline, number for non-emergency medical on-call services) and which of these hotlines is the most visible, (2) Are participants familiar with the European initiative for establishing a hotline for missing children, (3) What attitude do participants hold about the usefulness of a hotline for missing children, (4) What are the main sources of information about the hotline for missing children, (5) Do participants know which organization operates the hotline for missing children in Croatia, (6) What do participants think about establishing a missing children register and a child alert system in Croatia? In addition, the study explores the differences in all the above mentioned questions in regard to participants’ age and educational level. The study results will give an answer about the visibility of 116 hotlines in Croatia (compared with the European countries). In addition, the results will be valuable information for the Center for Missing and Exploited Children (which is operating the hotline for missing children in Croatia) in order to plan activities for raising the visibility of this hotline.

hotline, missing children, visibility, research, Croatia

nije evidentirano