Hundreds Of Kids Still Missing After Katrina
KAYE: Let's check again now on some stories we're following. Now in the news, U.S. officials confirm to CNN that since 2002, the government has been monitoring for suspicious radiation levels outside more than 100 predominantly Muslim-related sites in the United States. Officials say the classified program is aimed at detecting any radioactive material that could be used to make a so-called dirty bomb. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised U.S. troops in Iraq today for the job they're doing to bring freedom to the Iraqi people. Rumsfeld visited U.S. troops in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. He told the troops, in his words, "we will win this war. It is a test of wills." President Bush called troops in Iraq today to wish them happy holidays. He told U.S. servicemen and women that Americans are proud of them for keeping the nation safe and defending freedom around the world. The White House released a photograph of Mr. Bush telephoning U.S. troops from Camp David on this Christmas Eve. And kidnappers in Yemen have freed two Austrian tourists taken hostage four days ago. The Austrian Foreign Ministry says the two freed hostages are in good health. Officials say it is still unclear who kidnapped the tourists or why they were let go. An estimated 470,000 people evacuated Louisiana and went to Texas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Now, a Texas economic researcher says many of them will remain in the Lone Star State. Tens of thousands of storm victims spent their first days in makeshift shelters in Texas. Officials say by year's end, a task force in the Houston-Harris County area will have placed about 100,000 Katrina evacuees in temporary or permanent housing. Federal emergency officials admit the future is still uncertain for tens of thousand of Katrina victims. It may seem hard to believe but hundreds of children are still displaced four months now after Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of people, young and old, were evacuated and many became separated from loved ones in the process. Thousands of cases have been resolved, but your help is still needed. Bob O'Brien is in Washington today. He is the director of the missing children's division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Bob, good to have you with us.</s>BOB O'BRIEN, MISSING CHILDREN ADVOCATE: Good to be here.</s>KAYE: Let's talk about these children. I know you like to refer to them as displaced, not missing. Can you explain the distinction? Do you believe that a lot of these children are possibly with other relatives?</s>O'BRIEN: It is quite possible that they are with other relatives or family friends. We had 5,041 reports of missing children since the hurricane. And up to this past Wednesday, all but 490 of those children have been located or recovered.</s>KAYE: So we're certainly heading in the right direction.</s>O'BRIEN: Absolutely.</s>KAYE: What have been some of the issues and some of the challenges in getting these children reunited with their families?</s>O'BRIEN: Well, the -- actually there are more than one evacuation for facilities in the states that were hit the worst. And to other states the moving of 471,000 to 48 states is a sign of benevolence on a part of the other states, but it was a challenge to track these individuals from location to location. That's one of the things that will be looked at more specifically next time we have this sort of thing, to able to find out who is where, and how we can actually locate them and recover them back to their missing family.</s>KAYE: And how about the fact that so much of the items were destroyed there in the New Orleans area? Hard to find pictures of many of these displaced children.</s>O'BRIEN: So many these -- the families didn't have their wallets, didn't have their purses. We used school records, school sources for photos, sometimes. We do have children we looking for. We don't have a photo of the child. It's an extra challenge.</s>KAYE: Well, I know that you want to give us a few cases specifically and we want to share them with our viewers today, hoping to find them and reunite them. Let's start with some of the children that you have for us today. The first one, Precious Smallwood.</s>O'BRIEN: Precious is a 6-year-old girl. She's believed to be missing with her mother, Connie Johns, and she was reported missing to us by a relative. We have no idea where she and her mother are at this point.</s>KAYE: OK, and let's take a look at our next one. We have a picture, if we can put that on the screen for us. There we have two children there, that's Molly and Gino Divincenti.</s>O'BRIEN: They are believed to be missing with their father, Gino Divincenti Senior, and a grandparent. It's possible that they may be in the Pensacola, Florida area. We don't know for sure, but that's where one of the focuses is at this point.</s>KAYE: And do you still have families calling in looking for their children?</s>O'BRIEN: We still have actually new cases called in each day. The fact that a family's not been able to get in touch with a missing family or missing child in the two, particularly Louisiana, Mississippi -- more specifically in Louisiana.</s>KAYE: Right. We're looking now at a picture of Emmanuel McGee. Tell us about him.</s>O'BRIEN: 10-year-old child is missing with his mother, Tasha (ph) McGee. The adult sister of this young boy has reported him missing. We have no idea where either one of them are.</s>KAYE: And is there any reason -- in many of these cases, is there any reason to believe that these children are still alive?</s>O'BRIEN: Absolutely. We always keep a positive attitude until we find out otherwise. There certainly are children that became deceased as a result of the storm, but we keep the mind-set that we're going to find the child someplace, find the adult, find them alive.</s>KAYE: And we have one more picture there on the screen. Tell us about this little one.</s>O'BRIEN: The ...</s>KAYE: This Kevionte Thornton.</s>O'BRIEN: That young man was reported missing by his father. And we are -- he's been missing with the mother, Lashaunye Thornton. Actually, reported by the paternal grandmother. That's the individual who reported it. And we're still trying to find out where they are as well. They're both missing.</s>KAYE: And that child is just 14-months-old. So if you've seen any of these children anywhere, what should the public do? What should our viewers do right now?</s>O'BRIEN: We should -- they should call the 1-800-the-lost which is our phone number. And it's at no charge t -anybody that might see the child. Our Web site is missingkids.com, where they can go up and take a look at the pictures of missing children and see if there's other children that we're looking for that maybe you could be helpful. And we want to actually thank CNN for focusing on missing children because the children in our nation are our most valuable resource for the future.</s>KAYE: And, Bob, do you have a memorable reunion that has since happened? I know we were on the air for many hours over one full weekend trying to help with these reunions. Is there one that stands out for you?</s>O'BRIEN: Well, I think the one that stands out for me is the 12- year-old boy in Biloxi, Mississippi who actually helped rescue his mother first by getting her out of the third floor of the house on a mattress and taking her a long distance in the water, came back to the same house and helped his uncle who was handicapped and actually -- rescued that child as well. And the whole family was reunited. And our Team Adam (ph) consultants were there to help put that together. It was really just amazing heroism and good fortune.</s>KAYE: We love to hear stories like that. Bob O'Brien with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Thanks so much for your time today, and we'll have our fingers cross that something comes from those pictures that we just put on the air.</s>O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.</s>KAYE: For some, it is the new and improved holiday bird: the fried turkey. How this popular cooking technique could be more dangerous, though, than first thought.