People are forgetting that this is not the same world that we grew up in. But I see no reason to panic. My daughter started walking home from school this year so I got her a phone with GPS. We already had Sprint so we went with them. Their "family locator" service costs $5/month and you can try it for free if you are already a Sprint user. I can track her via my phone or with a web browser. The service enables you to set up events that you are notified about. For example if my daughter is not home by 3:30 then I get a text message on my phone and my wife and I get an email with the details. If you already use Sprint, you should look into this.

Find someone who can actually use the stuff. Try http://www.gigoit.org/