The public is familiar with the Amber Alert, but do you know the Adam Alert? The program is named after Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old boy who was found dead 16 days after he was separated from his mother in a Florida department store.

Similar to the Amber alert, it's a nationally recognized system to keep children safe and out of harm's way.

It's a parent's worst nightmare. "My heart broke for that mother. I could see the panic in her face," recounted Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson, Guam's attorney general. "She was going all over the store, calling her daughter's name." Barrett-Anderson was shopping with family when she quickly found herself searching - not for bargain prices - but for a little girl who was separated from her mother at Macy's Department store.

"It went on for 10 or 15 minutes," she continued. "I even went to the entrance of the mall just to sort of stand there to see if someone was taking a child. I was so drawn into but so few customers were aware that there was a child that was missing."

Code Adam live briefing from Washington DC https://t.co/nRH2acW4h3
— GuamChamber (@GUChamber) March 29, 2017

Assisting in search efforts was a store floor manager, who called out Code Adam on the pager system. Fortunately, the little girl was reunited with mom. Unfortunately, few people in the store were sure what Code Adam meant. Earlier this week, the AG addressed the Guam Chamber of Commerce in hopes of pushing the alert system out in the Guam business community.

"Code Adam is like Amber Alert, but it's in retail businesses," she explained.

A mother herself, the AG humbly admits she's experienced the panic of losing her child in a store. "I was so proud to hear that Macy's had this. It doesn't work as well unless we as a community on Guam know what Code Adam is," she said. As part of her presentation before members of the Guam Chamber of Commerce, the AG had on Skype Callahan Walsh from the National Center for Missing and Exploited children.

"We support coordinated and community-wide efforts to help keep children safe," he said remotely. "Guam's adoption of the Code Adam program really demonstrates a clear commitment to these children in these communities." Guam businesses are encouraged to adopt the program, which is available free of charge.

"I would love Code Adam to be in Duty Free, Home Depot, Ross, all the malls, all the amusement parks and even in your stores," announced the AG. "Some of you might have small-to-moderate locations, as mr. Walsh said, this doesn't cost you a dime. The toolkit is for free. They will train your employees how to be aware of Code Adam."

How it works: employees will obtain a detailed description of the child and page "Code Adam" to others in the store. Designated employees will monitor store entrances to ensure the child doesn't leave the store. If the child is not found within 10 minutes, law enforcement is called. The AG noted that the program is being modified to phone authorities if the child is not located within 5 minutes of being reported missing.

For more information, visit missingkids.com.