Abby Potash, MSW

Abby Potash, MSS, LSW, is the mother of Sam, who was kidnapped by his non-custodial father in 1997.  Sam was the 99th ADVO – ShopWise - recovery.  Abby attended the first Team HOPE training and became a volunteer for Team HOPE in 1998.  Team HOPE is a program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a volunteer based peer support program offering support to others who have missing & exploited children.  In 1999 Abby became an administrator of Team HOPE and then the Director. Abby has been instrumental in the growth of Team HOPE and the training of hundreds of volunteers.  In her capacity as Director she developed the training curricula, instructed and facilitated all the volunteer trainings through 2021.  She has personally assisted thousands of families in crisis, coordinated and managed the Team HOPE program, 11 Team Consultants, and the Team HOPE volunteers. She retired from the position of Team HOPE Director on October 1, 2021, and continues to be involved and volunteer with the program. Abby has been a spokesperson for missing children since her son’s recovery in 1998.  She has appeared on various TV programs, spoken at numerous conferences and ADVO/Valassis events.  Abby has presented therapeutic approaches for helping families with missing children to mental health professionals as well as presenting to law enforcement and FBI victim specialists on parental abduction.  She has also been involved in reunifications of parentally abducted children with their searching parent and assisted at Amber Alert Family Roundtables. Abby received her BA from Chestnut Hill College in Human Services and her MSW degree from Bryn Mawr College. In addition, Abby is a therapist and has worked with adults and children who have experienced trauma. Abby was a resident therapist at the Gil Institute for Trauma, Recovery and Education until she retired in December of 2023 to help care for her granddaughter AJ, Sam’s first child.  Abby was involved in a summit NCMEC held on autism helping to create a search protocol for law enforcement.  Autism is personal to Abby as she has a grandson and a niece who have autism.  Abby firmly believes that childhood is the most privileged time of life.  Her most profound wish is that one day soon all children and families will live in a world free of fear and violence.  It is with firm resolve that she will continue to work on their behalf.  Currently Abby is the host of a podcast, Abduction: Victim to Survivor, about family abduction with the goal of dispelling the myth that it is okay because the child is with the other parent.