The mother of a 5-year-old girl missing in Cumberland County is pleading for her safe return.

Noema Alavez Perez says that she just wants her daughter to come home.

“It’s been really difficult for me sleeping, because every time that I go to sleep – I can’t even go to sleep because I’ve been thinking about my daughter. She doesn’t want to sleep by herself. She always wanted someone to be with her. She was afraid of the dark and everything,” Perez said.

Dulce Maria Alavez went missing from Bridgeton City Park on Sept. 16 while on the playground with her brother. Authorities say that they believe that the girl was taken from the park by a light-skinned, possibly Hispanic man driving a red SUV or van.

“She’s just a small girl. She doesn’t even know nothing that’s happening. And I know she wants to come back home because she doesn’t like being far away from her family,” Perez said.

The girl’s disappearance has prompted a large police response with Bridgeton police, New Jersey State Police, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office and the FBI investigating.

Officials are asking members of the public who were in the park on the day Alavez went missing to upload any photos or videos that they may have taken. The FBI set up a website for the public in the hopes that the pictures or videos contain clues.

Authorities are offering a $35,000 reward for information that leads to the girl’s safe return.

Anyone who may have information about Alavez’s disappearance should contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI and select option 4, then select option 8.