What is an Amber Alert and when are they issued?

The unthinkable is every parent's worst nightmare.

Your child goes missing.

Where can you turn for help?

It was difficult to find answers before 1996 when it was difficult to get quickly get effective information to police agencies and media outlets where they believed the child may be missing.

With police agencies with different policies and procedures across the country, a uniform system was needed in working with media members to help find children as quickly as possible.

The Amber Alert system was first started in 1996 when Dallas-Forth Worth police and local media joined forces to develop a way to help find abducted children after the abduction and murder of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman.

After her funeral, a radio station caller suggested alerts for missing children, which developed into a nationwide Amber Alert system, which currently consists of radio and television alerts, messages to cell phones and roadway messages.

Officials say more than 800 children were found safe since 2015 due to Amber Alert

Here is recommended criteria from the Department of Justice on when Amber Alert should be released.

There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred

Police must believe that the child has been abducted and is in imminent danger of serious injury or death. In the case of Ana Grace in Jackson Township, police at first offered a statewide alert before issuing an Amber Alert Friday afternoon.

Police said Jonathan Lee Stinnett and Ana Grace were last seen at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, at the Goodwill store at 7257 Fulton Drive NW across the street from the Jackson Township Police Department.

Descriptive information must be available for the child and the abduction

Authorities say descriptive information is needed about the abducted child and abduction to be able to issue an alert which would be recommended by the local police agency.

The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.

Is there an age limit for an Amber Alert to be released?

Criteria said the abduction needs to be of a child aged 17 years or younger.

There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Here's when Amber Alert are allowed to be issued