Skip to content
In an emergencyAustriaEmergency numbers →
SurviveBetter
Child in a red jacket hugging a tree in a beech forest, searchers approaching in the distance

My child has gone missing in the forest

A moment ago your child was there, now they are gone. Call 112 at once, stay at the last-seen point, search purposefully – and teach children beforehand: “Stop and hug a tree.”

First

  1. Call 112 at once (in Austria also the police on 133) – do not search on your own for a long time first. The sooner the search starts, the smaller the search area.
  2. Say where and when you last saw your child, how old they are, what they are wearing and whether they need medication. Then keep your phone free.
  3. One adult stays at the place where the child was last seen, calls the child's name loudly and then listens quietly. Children often come back to exactly that spot.
  4. First check dangerous places nearby: water, roads, steep slopes. Do not touch the child's belongings – search dogs need the scent trail.

Call emergency services if

  • Immediately, as soon as you cannot find your child within a few minutes
  • Always at once if water, roads or steep ground are nearby
  • It is getting dark, cold or the weather is turning
  • The child is small, ill, needs medication or has a disability
  • The child is back but injured, chilled or confused

Emergency numbers for Austria · Change region

What is happening

While picking berries, playing off the path or because a child runs ahead: a child is suddenly out of sight in the forest. Most children reappear within a few minutes. But because you cannot know that in advance, the rule is: if you cannot find your child within a few minutes, call 112 at once. Nobody will be cross with you if it is quickly resolved.

Time is the most important factor. With every minute a child keeps moving, the possible search area grows. Police, mountain rescue and fire brigades have search dogs, drones, thermal cameras and many people – no family can do that alone. Experience from missing-person searches also shows that children behave differently depending on age: small children often do not get far but hide or fall asleep. Older children often try to find their own way back and walk further away in the process.

Many children are afraid of “getting into trouble” or are scared of unfamiliar searchers and hide from them. That is why there are programmes such as “Hug-A-Tree and Survive”: children learn to stop, hug a tree, answer loudly and not be afraid of people calling them. A tree gives something to hold on to, calms them and keeps the child in one place – which makes them much easier to find.

The greatest dangers for a lost child are water, falls on steep ground, roads and – especially at night – getting cold. So you search first where it is dangerous, not where it is most convenient.

Step by step

My child has gone missing in the forest – Phase 1 of 4The first minutes. Call the name loudly and then listen in complete silence – several times. Keep other children with you. Note exactly the place where you last saw your child. Mark it if possible (jacket, rucksack, save the phone location). Briefly check nearby danger spots: stream, pond, embankment, road, car park. If the child has not appeared after a few minutes: call 112 (in Austria also the police on 133). Do not wait until it is “definitely serious”.
Phase 1 of 4

Phase 1 of 4

The first minutes

Call the name loudly and then listen in complete silence – several times. Keep other children with you. Note exactly the place where you last saw your child. Mark it if possible (jacket, rucksack, save the phone location). Briefly check nearby danger spots: stream, pond, embankment, road, car park. If the child has not appeared after a few minutes: call 112 (in Austria also the police on 133). Do not wait until it is “definitely serious”.

The animation shows the key actions of each phase schematically; the text below is what counts.

  1. Phase 1

    The first minutes

    • Call the name loudly and then listen in complete silence – several times. Keep other children with you.
    • Note exactly the place where you last saw your child. Mark it if possible (jacket, rucksack, save the phone location).
    • Briefly check nearby danger spots: stream, pond, embankment, road, car park.
    • If the child has not appeared after a few minutes: call 112 (in Austria also the police on 133). Do not wait until it is “definitely serious”.

  2. Phase 2

    During the call and until help arrives

    • Give: location with coordinates or directions, time, name and age, height, clothing (colours!), shoes, special features, illnesses, medication.
    • Have a recent photo of the child ready on your phone.
    • One adult stays at the last-seen point or at the car, calls regularly and waits there. Children often return to familiar spots.
    • Do not touch or pass around the child's belongings (hat, jumper, cuddly toy) – search dog handlers will show how they are needed.
    • Let as few people as possible run back and forth: it blurs tracks and scent. Rather search paths, junctions and water spots purposefully.
    • Keep your phone free and the ringer loud – the dispatch centre will call back.

  3. Phase 3

    Once the search is under way

    • Follow the instructions of the search leaders, even if it is hard not to run off on your own.
    • Pass on information: favourite places, habits, fears (e.g. of dogs or uniforms), whether the child reacts to their name.
    • Stay as calm as you can – for yourself and the other children. Someone should be with you.

  4. Phase 4

    When the child is found

    • Tell the dispatch centre at once so that all searchers can be called back.
    • Hug them, do not scold. The child should learn that letting themselves be found was the right thing to do.
    • Wrap them up warm, give them something to drink, watch for injuries, shivering and confusion – if in doubt have a doctor check them.
    • Later, calmly talk through together what happened and practise the “tree rule”.

★ Pro tips

What experienced people do differently: proven practice from mountain rescue, fire services, lifeguards and civil protection that beginners rarely know.

  1. Take a shoe print before the walk

    Before the outing, have your child step on a piece of kitchen foil or soft ground and take a photo of the print. Search teams can then tell their tracks from everyone else's. It is part of the "Hug-A-Tree" programme for children and takes a minute.

  2. A large bin bag as an emergency poncho

    Put a large, brightly coloured bin bag in your child's jacket pocket. With a hole cut for the face – never pulled over the head without one – it becomes protection from wind and rain. Practise it once as a game so they know how it works if it matters.

  3. A card with name and phone number

    Put a card with your child's name and your mobile number in a closed pocket of their jacket. Young children often cannot say the number when they are upset. Tell your child it is fine to show the card to rescuers or other adults.

  4. Mention your child's watch or phone in the call

    If your child has a kids' smartwatch, a GPS tracker or their own phone, say so straight away in the emergency call. Check the matching app for the last known location at the same time. That information can narrow the search area dramatically.

What to watch out for

  • Searching alone for too long

    The most common mistake is searching alone for too long out of embarrassment or hope. An early call costs nothing – an hour's delay can greatly enlarge the search area.

  • Water

    Streams, ponds and lakes attract children like a magnet. Even shallow water can be dangerous for toddlers. Water spots are among the first places to search.

  • Children often do not answer

    Small children fall asleep, hide out of fear or shame, or do not dare answer unfamiliar voices. So look thoroughly close to the last-seen point – under bushes, in hollows and hollow tree trunks.

  • Putting yourself in danger

    In panic, parents climb into gorges or jump into water. Then there are two emergencies. In dangerous terrain this is the job of the rescue services.

  • Night and cold

    Children cool down faster than adults. Even a mild summer night can be dangerous for a wet, thinly dressed child. So do not lose any more time at dusk.

Common mistakes

  • Waiting too long before calling 112.
  • Everyone runs off at once and nobody stays at the last-seen point.
  • Touching and showing around the child's belongings before the dog team arrives.
  • Calling constantly without listening quietly afterwards.
  • Scolding the child once found – next time they might hide.
  • Searching by car and leaving the last-seen point.

Prepare in advance

  • Practise the “tree rule” with children: “If you can't see us any more, stop, hug a tree and shout loudly. We will find you.”
  • Give every child a whistle on a cord around the neck and explain: three blasts mean help.
  • Tell children: “Nobody will be cross if you get lost. If someone calls your name, answer – even if they are strangers.”
  • Send children out in bright, highly visible clothing; take a photo before the walk that shows their clothes.
  • Older children: their own phone with battery, calling 112 and sharing their location practised.
  • Fixed rules for walks: always within sight, wait at junctions, an agreed meeting point.

Special consideration

What the child should do
Stop. Hug a tree or sit down next to it. Shout loudly or blow a whistle. Do not walk on and do not hide. If someone calls – answer, even if they are strangers. If it gets cold: zip up, hood up, sit on your pack or on leaves, not on the wet ground.
Children with autism or other special needs
Some children do not respond to calling, head straight for water or hide when it is noisy. Say so immediately in the emergency call, as well as what calms the child (favourite song, favourite word).

Sources

  • Hug-A-Tree and Survive · Hug-A-Tree and Survive (Kinder-Präventionsprogramm, entwickelt von Ab Taylor und Jacqueline Heet, San Diego), 1981
  • Lost Person Behavior: A Search and Rescue Guide on Where to Look – for Land, Air and Water · Robert J. Koester – dbS Productions, 2008
  • International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR) – recommendations and information (organisation website) · ICAR – International Commission for Alpine Rescue
  • 112 – the European emergency number · European Commission
  • Notrufnummern (oesterreich.gv.at) · Bundesministerium für Finanzen – Amtshelfer oesterreich.gv.at
  • Ready Kids · Ready.gov – U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Out-of-Hospital Evaluation and Treatment of Accidental Hypothermia: 2019 Update · Wilderness & Environmental Medicine (Wilderness Medical Society), 2019

Your situation

Child's age
Terrain nearby
Who can search?
Time of day

Matching entries

0 rules apply

No AI decides here. Every recommendation is based on a visible rule.

Add details about your situation above to get more specific guidance.

Basics for this situation

Why: Always applies to this situation – regardless of your answers.

All rules of this situation (8)

  1. [not active] If Child's age = Toddler / pre-school

    Small children usually do not get far, but they often hide or fall asleep and do not answer calls. Look thoroughly close to the last-seen point: under bushes, in hollows, behind fallen trees.

  2. [not active] If Child's age = Primary school age

    School-age children often try to find their own way back and walk further away. Call, then listen quietly for a long time – also for a whistle. Search nearby paths and junctions first.

  3. [not active] If Child's age = Older child / teenager with a phone

    If the child has a phone: call or text them to stop, dial 112 and share their location. Then save battery – do not call them constantly.

  4. [not active] If Terrain nearby = Stream, pond or lake nearby

    Water attracts children and is the greatest danger. Search banks and shallow spots first and tell the emergency call straight away that water is nearby.

  5. [not active] If Terrain nearby = Steep ground, rocks, gorges

    On steep ground, do not climb into gullies or rocks yourself – otherwise there will be two emergencies. Call and look from safe points; mountain rescue (140 in Austria) has the equipment and experience.

  6. [not active] If Who can search? = Several adults

    Divide tasks clearly: one person stays at the last-seen point, one keeps in contact with the dispatch centre, the others search in fixed directions and return at an agreed time. Nobody searches without a phone or an agreement.

  7. [not active] If Who can search? = I am alone (with other children)

    Alone: keep the other children with you and do not go far from the last-seen point. Call, wait, listen – and meet the rescuers as soon as they arrive.

  8. [not active] If Time of day = Dusk / night

    At dusk it gets cold quickly and children become frightened. Switch on lights and wave them, keep calling. At night the police and mountain rescue take over the search – with thermal cameras and dogs.