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All OJJDP publications may be viewed and downloaded at ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications.
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You're Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment

This resource for young people who are victims of abduction was prepared with the assistance of five young adults who were abducted as children and who are walking the path of healing and recovery. The guide is designed to help those who experience abduction begin to put their lives back together, and joins two previous titles OJJDP created for families coping with abduction: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide and What About Me? Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister.

When abducted children return home, the event is often accompanied by great fanfare. It is a happy ending to a tense and dramatic search that may have lasted for hours, days, months, or even years. Parents, families, friends, communities, law enforcement, and the media rightfully celebrate the moment. When the initial glow fades, child survivors are left with the overwhelming task of adjusting to a life that has been dramatically altered through no fault of their own. OJJDP has developed this publication to support and assist these children as they navigate to a "new normal" state of being after their abduction.

The publication is divided into five sections, each dealing with a different aspect of a survivor's journey from trauma to gaining a sense of empowerment. It discusses the journey itself and what the survivor might expect along the way; finding people who can help; taking control of one's life and making the right choices; roadblocks the survivor might face and possible ways to handle them; and finding the survivor's individual "new normal."

The authors of the document are survivors of child abductions who wanted to reach out to future survivors to help them understand that they are not alone and that they can survive the experience. They are:

• Tamara Brooks, who was abducted when she was 16 years old. She was rescued 16 hours later, thanks to an AMBER Alert. Tamara has made speaking out on behalf of survivors a significant part of her life.



• Sam Fastow, who was abducted by his noncustodial father when he was 10 years old. Sam was with his father for 8-1/2 months; a tip from a member of his father's family led to his recovery and safe return to his mother. Sam plans to work toward becoming a principal at an alternative school for troubled youth.



• Alicia Kozakiewicz, who was abducted when she was 13 years old by a 38-year-old man who befriended her on the Internet. He held her captive for 4 days but was eventually caught because he broadcast her image on a Webcam and someone identified her. Alicia has committed a large portion of her life to advocacy and speaks about Internet safety around the country.



• Maggie Maloy, who was 15 years old when she was abducted early one morning while running with her cross-country team. She was brutally attacked, raped, shot, and left for dead; she still has three bullets in her body as a result of the attack. Maggie will receive her paralegal certificate in June 2008 and plans to continue working as a child advocate and guardian ad litem.



• Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her home at knifepoint in the middle of the night when she was 14 years old. She was held for 9 months in the woods a few miles from her home before being safely returned. Elizabeth has advocated for legislation such as the Federal Sex Offender Registry.

This publication also serves as a resource to parents, teachers, friends, law enforcement officers, counselors, and others who will interact with a survivor, providing insight into the frame of mind of a child who is recovering from this traumatic experience. The document contains resources for survivors, family members, and others who desire more information about coping with the aftermath of abduction.

You're Not Alone was officially released by Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey at the 25th annual commemoration of National Missing Children's Day on May 21. For more details on this event, see the article "DOJ Observes Missing Children's Day 2008."

This and other OJJDP publications may be viewed and downloaded at ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications. Print publications may also be ordered online at https://puborder.ncjrs.gov.