FEWER children have been reported missing over the past two years, resulting in the lowest numbers since the launch of the Ananda Alert system in May 2009, The National Children's Registry has said.

In fact, the registry's Deputy Registrar Warren Thompson told a virtual Child Protection Forum put on by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency on Wednesday night that “since [the start of] 2020 the number is lower than customary, perhaps because of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

“We have seen, for the past two years, a real reduction in the number of reports for missing children.

For January to April 2019, we received 532 reports of missing children, and since January to April 2020, we have received 384 reports, so that's like a 39 per cent reduction in the number of reports made.”

“So we had more children recovered last year in terms of being a proportion of the number of reports made, but still, we are glad that we have had a reduction.