History Main / MissingChild

* Early in ''VideoGame/TheTakeOver'', your adopted daughter Megan was abducted from her home, and your rescue mission forms the game's main plot. It turns out Megan's kidnapper is none other than her ''biological'' mother, the Steelhaven mob kingpin Freya who abandoned her years ago after believing having a child would be a distraction for her rise to power; but now seeks to steal her back due to not having another successor.

* Tragically TruthInTelevision, although in many First World countries at the least, the risk has historically been quite overstated. TheEighties saw a particularly dramatic rise of missing child reports, along with subsequent panic and [[TooSmartForStrangers emphasis on "stranger danger"]], but much of this has been criticized in hindsight as not only did it foster [[ParanoiaFuel a pretty intense and distrustful mindset within children]], [[MediaScaremongering many widespread statistics of "800,000 children a year go missing in America"]] tend to be based on missing child ''reports'' rather than actual cases that were investigated, which likely included those by paranoid parents wondering why their child didn't return home on time filed before they showed up unharmed sometime later, inflating the numbers. Studies have also proven that a vast majority of "missing children" tend to be either [[TheRunaway runaways]] or in fact abducted by close family members (usually disaffected divorced parents), [[WorryingForTheWrongReason with more sensationalized reasons like nonfamily abductions being exceptionally scarce]].

* Tragically TruthInTelevision, although in many First World countries at the least, the risk has historically been quite overstated. TheEighties saw a particularly dramatic rise of missing child reports, along with subsequent panic and [[TooSmartForStrangers emphasis on "stranger danger"]], but much of this has been criticized in hindsight as not only did it foster [[ParanoiaFuel a pretty intense and distrustful mindset within children]], [[MediaScaremongering many widespread statistics of "800,000 children a year go missing in America"]] tend to be based on missing child ''reports'' rather than actual cases that were investigated, which likely included those by paranoid parents wondering why their child didn't return home on time filed before they showed up unharmed sometime later, inflating the numbers. Studies have also proven that a vast majority of "missing children" tend to be either [[TheRunaway runaways]] or in fact abducted by close family members (usually disaffected divorced parents), with more sensationalized reasons like nonfamily abductions being exceptionally scarce.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms'': In ''Figment 2'', Capri rides her bike to the Academy Scientifica Lucidus late at night to go and help Figment (who flies alongside her) save Dreamfinder and the aforementioned academy from the Doubtfinder, leaving a note explaining this for her mother Jess. When Jess finds the note, she drives to the academy to see what is going on for herself due to worrying about her daughter.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Lost!", Arthur gets lost after falling asleep on the bus.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* ''WebVideo/{{AFK}}'': Q, it turns out, has a daughter, and being sent into the game world left her behind. As a result she doesn't know if her daughter's properly being taken care of since she's been left alone. Of course, her daughter also has no idea where she went, and Q is distraught at the idea of the distress it's no doubt caused. [[spoiler: She later takes comfort in the fact her parents were coming to visit that day, so her daughter wouldn't be alone for long. Then she's further relieved learning that almost no time has passed.]]

* The first season of ''Series/StrangerThings'' revolves around family and friends trying to find 12-year-old Will Byers who went missing. Little do they know that he is TrappedInAnotherWorld.

* ''ComicBook/DisneyKingdoms'': In ''Figment 2'', Capri rides her bike to the Academy Scientifica Lucidus, with Figment flying alongside her, late at night to go and help him save Dreamfinder and the aforementioned academy from the Doubtfinder, leaving a note explaining this for her mother Jess. When Jess finds the note, she drives to the academy to see what is going on for herself due to worrying about her daughter.

* There are two objectives in ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Tooie]]'' that involve finding lost children. In [[AmusementParkOfDoom Witchyworld]], Mrs. Boggy is looking for her three children, Groggy, Soggy, and Moggy. Groggy wants Banjo and Kazooie to bring him a cheeseburger, and then carry him back to his mom, since he is too fat to walk back on his own. Soggy wants Banjo and Kazooie to bring her french fries, and Moggy doesn't want to leave, but if you hit him, he will run back to his mom to tell on Banjo and Kazooie. In [[{{Prehistoria}} Terrydactyland]], Scrotty's daughter, Scrut, has [[TheRunaway run away]] to visit Witchyworld, and ends up becoming captured and put on display in the Cave of Horrors as a "Mighty Evil Dinosaur". Banjo and Kazooie must destroy her cage, and then take her back to Terrydactyland with Chuffy the train.

Little Billy is missing, not [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]], but still without parents or guardians or nanny. Maybe he's wandered off, or turned around and suddenly everyone was gone, or he's just ''really'' good at hide-and-seek. But he's missing, which may be the ultimate AdultFear.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* Marinette's unexplained disappearance after being struck by a memory-erasing akuma is what drives the plot of ''FanFic/{{Missing|MiraculousLadybug}}''.