What do you do when you find a lost child? How can you help the child? When returning a lost child, you want to protect yourself as well as the child. There are some things you should and should not do to help a child find his or her parents.

You will want to find the child’s parents immediately. This does not mean you should look for them yourself. Never try to find a lost child’s parents before notifying someone you have the child in your possession. You may be accused of taking the child if you do.

Never hold or hug a lost child, no matter how much you want to. The child will want comforting, but remember you are not the parent or caregiver. You could be setting yourself up for a civil and criminal lawsuit. Someone may try to say it was inappropriate touching and suit you for damages. Try not to touch the child.

The first thing you do when you find a lost child is to talk to the child to find out his or her name and the parent’s name. Let the child know you are going to help them to find their mommy or daddy. Let the child know that you will have to walk to the nearest employee of the place that you are at.

Find an employee of the establishment you are at and let him or her find the parents of the child. Make sure you are not needed before leaving the child. The employee will let you know whether or not you need to stay with them. They may not have experience with children and since you brought the child to them they may want you to sit with the child.

When walking with the child if he or she takes your hand, then you can hold hands. If you want to make sure the child stays with you hold the collar or the sleeve to the child’s clothing. You are not touching the child, but you are making sure the child gets to where he or she needs to go.

If the child supplied you with the names of the parents, call out the names of the parents as you walk. If the child wasn’t able to supply names, just call out found lost child, or lost child found. Anything you can do to draw attention to the fact that you are looking for the child’s parents will help if anyone accuses you of taking the child.

If a child is standing by himself or herself do not automatically assume the child is lost. Never take a child that is standing alone unless you have been waiting for 15 minutes with the child or the child says he or she is lost. If you take a child and the parent told the child to wait there, then you just kidnapped a child. Before helping a child, make sure the child is in distress and needs help. The child will approach you if he or she wants or needs help.

Take the child to the nearest employee. If there are no employees and you are at a mall, have someone call the police. You can take the child to the store employees or if at a mall, to mall security. Depending on where you are, you may even have to call local authorities. Whichever way is the quickest way to return a lost child, you will want someone else to know about it as well. Remember to protect yourself and keep the child from harm until the authorities or the parents can be found.