The hazy faces of missing children tucked away in a corner of a newspaper advertisement speak nothing of the tragedy to their families. To make things a little easier for guardians of lost children, the State Social Welfare Board, along with Unicef and the Centre, has come up with the idea of setting up a website on missing children. The website will be launched in West Bengal and Maharashtra initially. The website will provide services like reporting a missing child, posting possible whereabouts and list of agencies involved in tracing missing children with interactive services like chat and mails. This centralised system will ensure better coordination between governmental and non-governmental organisations while tracing missing persons. Ishita Sanyal from Disha, an NGO, says the website will act as a ready referral point. "Parents of missing children will be saved a lot of aimless wandering between different agencies," she says. Assistant project co-ordinator from the Institute of Psychological and Educational Research Sushmita Roy says, "We face lots of problems, especially from disadvantaged families. In many cases, a child may run away from home due to an abusive father. Families in these cases are often reluctant to lodge an FIR. If a centralised system is available where we can post our information and access tips from others, it will speed up the entire process." However, there remains the danger from Net paedophiles and child traffickers. Sreeparna Dasgupta from CINI Asha says that the network will involve police stations who will make proper enquiries before handing over a child to a family. The website initiative was announced on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, Jyoti Chandra, joint secretary, Ministry of social justice and empowerment, said, "This website is designed as a tool for repatriation of missing children. Despite what we say, we do not make any serious effort to restore missing children to their families."[Times of India]