People are unreasonably scared of abductions. The most common use case would most likely be to find a kid that got lost.

Of course, this unreasonable fear of abductions means that a commercial GPS tracker for kids would sell much better if it supported the "abducted kid" use case well, on top of more likely use cases.

If abductions are not an issue, couldn't lost kids simply ask strangers for directions?

Unless you talk about the wilderness.

Actually when I let my kids go outside alone, I usually give them a phone. I live in a big city. Reception could be a problem in the countryside.