Some fabulous news was released yesterday concerning all those missing children from the states recently ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Mysteriously, the Washington Post buried the story on page A10:
“Authorities trying to track down more than 2,600 children in Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama still missing three weeks after Hurricane Katrina believe that most of them are not really ‘missing.’
“Rather, authorities said, the vast majority of these children are ‘lost’ -- separated from a parent or guardian during the rush to rescue hurricane victims from rooftops and shelters, when families were divided because of lack of space on a bus or helicopter.”
As the story continues, we find out that about 35 percent of the cases of missing children in the area have already been resolved:
“As of yesterday, the center had resolved 966 out of 3,600 Hurricane Katrina cases, Allen said.”
In addition, we learn that most of the reports of missing children ended up being false:
“‘The vast majority of the cases in our judgment are what we would call 'fractured families,' " said Allen, including instances in which evacuees ended up in one state and their children in another. He cited several examples of people reporting children missing, only to discover they were safe with a relative who did not know how to find the parents.”
A week ago, an article dealing with the psychological impact to Katrina victims was placed on the cover of the Post’s health section. Why didn’t today’s story of great hope concerning children that are now believed not to be missing get displayed more prominently than page A10?
