Tekenya Wooten, 12 Year Old Mother-to-Be, Missing

Rightly so, the internet is all abuzz over the fact that this young girl is missing and not enough exposure is being given to her case. She does not meet the "criteria" for an Amber Alert because she is apparently a habitual run away and was living in a group home at the time she went missing. As of this morning we don't know why she was put into a group home, who and where her family are, and who is the father of her unborn child.

Whatever your feelings about how she got into this situation in the first place, the fact remains she is still a missing child who is about to give birth. That is TWO missing children. The case deserves all of the exposure it can get so that Tekenya Wooten can give birth safely. I just hope that she is indeed "just a runaway teen" and that she is hiding safely with someone who cares about what happens to her.

The following is a list of agencies and elected officials that have been contacted about Tekenya. Please help by calling or emailing to voice your concerns:

The News & Observer
215 South McDowell Street
P.O. Box 191
Raleigh, NC 27602
Main: (919) 829-4500
Customer Service: (800) 522-4205

WRAL:

Newsroom: (919) 821-8600 or (800) 245-WRAL
Newsroom Fax: (919) 821-8541
News Tips: (919) 821-8590 or use our online form


Durham PD -Cheif Jose Lopez, Sr. of the Durham Police Department 919- 560-4322 jose.lopez@durhamnc.gov

Durham City Manager- Thomas Bonfield (919)560-4222 tom.bonfield@durhamnc.gov

Mayor of Durham (919) 560-4333 ext. 269 Bill.Bell@durhamnc.gov

Durham Child Protective Services (919) 560-8424 ( This is run by Durham COUNTY)

Here is a template letter found on another site if you choose to email and don't know what to say:

“I’m concerned that the Durham Police Department has classified Tekenya Wooten as a “run a way” versus “high risk” as a result of this classification, no media outlet will cover her story. This reduces the chances that this young woman will be recovered. The fact that she is 12 years old and the birth of her child is imminent means that not only is this young girl in danger, but so is the life of her child. I am equally disturbed that the police department has done nothing further than take its cue from a group home that has an incentive to classify this child as a “run a way” for administrative purposes. A 100 pound 12-year-old can’t RUN anywhere. Has she been classified in this way because she is poor? Has she been classified this way because she is Black? Has she been classified this way because she is pregnant? Has she been classified this way because she lived in a group home? Why doesn’t the City of Durham think that a 12 year old pregnant child who is missing is not high risk? “

For more up to date information about Tekenya Wooten, please check the following links:

What About Our Daughters

Peace4 the Missing

Lost Faces of the Missing

Murphy-Milano Journal

Black and Missing But Not Forgotten

DreaminDemon
Womanist Musings
Electronic Village


UPDATE:
TEKENYA HAS BEEN FOUND ALIVE

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/1267228.html

From Staff Reports Comment on this story DURHAM - A pregnant 12-year-old girl who had been missing since Saturday was found this morning in Durham, police said.

Durham police officers found Tekenya Wooten on Gordon Street at about 11:45 a.m. today, according to a news release. She appeared to be unharmed, according to the release.

Wooten was living in a Durham group home that operates as a residential and maternity child care facility. Investigators were treating her disappearance as a runaway case and did not trigger the state's Amber Alert program in this week's search.