The problem is bigger than your incident log
Most events with large family audiences record only a small number of official lost child incidents in a day, and reasonably conclude this is not a problem worth solving.
An official lost child report is raised when a separation has escalated to serious. A parent lost sight of a child, could not find them, and it went on long enough that they told someone. What it cannot capture is the much larger number that resolved before anyone reported them.
We have our own numbers on this. Over four days at an outdoor event in Melbourne attended by approximately 483,000 people, the organiser recorded zero lost child incidents. Over those same four days, parents using our service frequently activated the Find My Child feature to reunite with a child that had wandered off.
None of those situations became a report. A child drifted into a crowd, the parent looked at their phone, and walked over. The separation was real. It resolved straight away, without the anxiety and worry of a thirty minute search, and nobody ever mentioned it to the organiser.
What that means for your event
A parent quietly counting heads every couple of minutes is not browsing your stalls, not queuing for food, doesn't enjoy their day, and leaves earlier than they intended.
We surveyed parents afterwards. Two thirds said the availability of a child location service would influence their decision to bring children to future events.
There's also a button on the device, so a child who is lost can alert their parent themselves.
What we bring, and what we need
We provide the devices, the mobile connectivity, the software, a staffed kiosk across all your operating hours, all signage and materials, and a written report afterwards. We hold and maintain public liability, product liability and professional indemnity insurance, and all our staff hold current Working with Children Checks.
From you we need kiosk space in a busy family area with some shelter, agreement that your information points will accept device returns, and help letting families know the service is there.