European Hotline for Missing Children 116000

«The Smile of the Child» is the national operator for Greece of the 116000 European Hotline for Missing Children, providing free support to children who have desappeared and to their families. «The Smile of the Child» receives daily reports and calls (anonymous or not) for assistance, on cases of children that have gone missing (teenager escape, kidnapping, parental abduction, alarming disappearance) which forwards to the competent authorities.

The hotline 116000 is staffed exclusively by qualified social workers and psychologists and available nationwide, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Calls to the Hotline 116000, are free of charge from landline and mobile telephone, from telephone booth NO phone card is required, while the use of a prepaid card requires no available units.

Furthermore Line 116000 is interconnected with no. 112, the European Emergency Number, belonging to the International Network Telephone Lines (Child Helpline International).

At operational level, line 116000 is served all the 24 hours by:

• the Research and Rescue team «Thanassis Makris» with participation of certified dog lovers Groups.
• A number of specialized logistics; (jeeps, ATV, motor vehicle, ambulances)
• The «Ulysses» Mobile Medical Unit

Emphasizing in communication with children and adolescents, in addition to telephone calls, the opportunity is given to children to "talk" with us via: Email, Chatting and Social Media.

On Logistical level, line 116000 features a high techology both hardware and software, while its four interconnected call centers operate all in one, ensuring that maximum waiting time of each call is no more than 12sec!

The call centers of European Hotline for Missing Children 116000 are located in the following cities:

• Athens (Maroussi and Kareas)
• Thessaloniki
• Patras

It's worth to mention that, «The Smile of the Child» in his effort to ensure the smooth operation of Line 116000 under any circumstances, has established an Emergency call center at the Athens International Airport, El .Venizelos.

The fact that the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000 operates throughout Europe, makes it a valuable tool to the process of providing support to children arriving in Greece as refugees and migrants. This need led the Organisation to establish a group of volunteer interpreters / mediators with Arab and Farsi knowledge. In addition, the line 116000 and relative services provided, were communicated through special brochures, at the points of entry and residence of children refugees and migrants in Greece.

«The Smile of the Child» operates the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000 since 2007, after the numbering we got from the National Committee ofTelecommunications and Post.

After an evaluation among all european lines 116000, undertaken in 2016, the Greek part of the European Hotline for Missing Children 116000, has been certified obtaining the maximum rate i.e the 100% of the points.