Home and Family Security

Federal Protective Service (FPS) protects federal buildings and the employees within them through measures such as risk assessment, security and surveillance support, and safety education. In addition, FPS performs several roles that assist the general public. One of these roles is to keep the public safe while in a federal building. This includes training federal building employees on what procedures to follow when a child is reported missing.

On April 30, of the year it was conceived, the Code Adam Act of 2003 became a law. The act is named in the memory of six-year-old Adam Walsh, whose abduction from a Florida shopping mall and murder in 1981 helped to bring the horror of child abduction to national attention.

The Code Adam Alert requires that the designated authority for a public building establish procedures for a child missing in a federal facility. On November 1 of 2003, the Department of Homeland Security Federal Protective Service (FPS) implemented a policy nationwide, establishing procedures for locating a missing child in federal facilities. The General Services Administration administers the program in both owned and leased federal facilities.

Coordinating available resources during the first few minutes a child is missing is critical to a positive outcome. Regardless of where a child is reported missing, FPS instructs the following:

1. Alert a store or building employee, manager or administrator with as detailed a description of the child as possible.
2. Contact local police authority (and in the case of a federal building, the FPS or facility contract security guards will be contacted).
3. Act immediately if you believe your child is missing.

As a preventative step, children should learn age-appropriate measures to take if they lose sight of a parent or guardian including memorizing home and cell phone numbers as soon as they are old enough. Parents can stay prepared by keeping complete and accurate descriptions of their children, taking color photographs of them every six months, keeping copies of their fingerprints and samples of their DNA, knowing where their medical records are located, and having their dentist prepare and maintain dental charts.

Tips on how to stay safe (whether a federal employee or not) can be found in a list of fact sheets in this section of the site. These practical tips include home and family security, how to avoid rape and sexual assault, theft in the workplace, and travel security.

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