Shortly after the truth was revealed about the death of my daughter Polly I met with Joe Biden. During the course of our fifteen minutes together or perhaps it was thirty; I experienced an act of compassion and kindness that retains a special place in my heart. The meeting did not change my life, indeed my life had been profoundly changed in the month prior to the meeting, but it did provide me with insight, clarity and a sense of hope that had heretofore escaped my grasp.

In December 1993, I was invited to Washington DC to meet with President Clinton. During the course of my three days in the nation’s capitol, and for a variety of reasons, I was afforded extraordinary access to America’s political elite. Many of them wanted to strengthen their law and order credentials in preparation for the next year’s election, because public safety was a primary issue of the day. I know that a few tried to enlist me to carry water for their pet criminal justice legislation. Perhaps some of them were simply being kind in the face of personal tragedy. However, there is no doubt that I represented the novelty of the moment because one powerful Congressman declared that people like me represented a “dog and pony show”. 

Unfortunately, I have been unable to retain many of the details from that profoundly sad time in my life. Like a legally, but not totally blind person who sees outlines but not detail, my heavy veil of sadness filtered detail leaving impressions with varying degrees of clarity. I do remember being shuttled among offices and meeting a variety of Senators and Congresspersons. Always surrounded by staffers, they would sit with me for a few minutes, express their condolence, talk about their pet projects and we would pose for the inevitable meet and greet photo.

At one point I was in a beautifully appointed but darkened room. Senator Joe Biden was seated on an easy chair in front of his desk. He was alone. There were no aides or handlers anywhere in sight. The Senator motioned for me to sit on a matching chair across from him, about three feet away. In a quiet voice he told me to call him Joe. He expressed his condolence as had so many before. Then, as is Joe Biden’s style, he filibustered for the next several minutes. Quietly and with great compassion, he recounted the story of his own tragedy. He talked about losing his young wife and infant daughter in a catastrophic automobile accident when he was first elected to the United States Senate. He told me about his personal anguish and his moral crisis. He showed me an object; a gift from his deceased wife that he always keeps on his desk as a reminder of her love. Not her loss. He asked me how I was doing. We chatted. He talked about strength, family and faith. When we concluded Joe hugged me and wished me well.

For a brief moment in time we were simply two men who had experienced profound loss, but in truth I was the recipient of a gift. More than anything else Senator Biden served as an example of how to reconstruct a shattered life. If he could recover after having lost so much; if he could live a life of dignity and accomplishment then so could I. I have had many encounters with the Senator since then, but the subject of the meeting has never come up. I share this personal moment because it is important that people understand that Senator Biden stands apart as a politician and as a man.

The KlaasKids Foundation has just completed a comparative analysis of 52 State and Regional Amber Alert plans. We provide a link to the official site, the jurisdictional law enforcement agency, the Amber Alert contact, activation criteria, activation plan, and scope of the Amber Alert. While there are numerous similarities between the plans, there are many differences as well. If you wish to know how your state stacks up against the rest simply click here to find out.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have AMBER Alert plans. The AMBER Alert system has also been adopted in the Canadian provinces and continues to expand into the Mexican Border States.

According to the most recent statistics, since 1996, 734 children have successfully been recovered through the issuance of Amber Alerts. Of course many of these children were victims of parental abduction. That occurs when a non-custodial parent takes his or her child(ren) without permission and does not return them to the custodial parent.

Unfortunately, few of the cases that truly require an Amber Alert ever receive one because the cases do not fulfill all of the required criteria. For instance the kidnappings of Polly, Elizabeth Smart, Danielle VanDam, Amber DuBois and Adam Walsh would not have qualified for Amber Alerts in most states because they were either not taken in front of witnesses, the abductor was unknown, or the make and model of the getaway vehicle was not known.

The criteria required for Amber Alert activation was created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as was the decision to use the Emergency Alert System as the primary technology for delivery and distribution.

The Amber Alert was created in response to the kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman, who was kidnapped while riding her bike near her home in Arlington, Texas on January 13, 1996.