To our visitors:
This letter comes from the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, which we are pleased to endorse. If you're not familiar with this great organization, please
take a moment and read this letter.
As the nation's resource center for child protection, the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children (NCMEC) spearheads national efforts to locate and recover missing
children and raises public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction, molestation,
and sexual exploitation. A private, nonprofit organization established in 1984, NCMEC
operates under a Congressional mandate and works in conjunction with the U.S. Department
of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
"NBC Nightly News" referred to NCMEC as a "high-tech search
network." NCMEC is a vital resource for families and the approximately 17,000 law
enforcement agencies throughout the United States in the search for missing children and
the quest for child protection.
Since 1984 NCMEC has handled more than 1 million calls through its national hotline
1-800-THE LOST (1-800-843-5678); trained more than 143,000 police and other professionals;
and published more than 14 million publications that are distributed free of charge in
single copies. NCMEC has worked with law enforcement on more than 56,000 missing child
cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 37,000 children.
NCMEC has disseminated millions of missing children's photographs, with one in seven of
the children recovered as a direct result. NCMEC believes that "somebody knows where
each missing child is located," and seeks to reach every home with these
photographs.
NCMEC receives thousands of leads on missing children that are forwarded to police
investigators. NCMEC also operates the national child pornography tipline in conjunction
with the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Federal Bureau of
Investigation that has produced leads resulting in many successful investigations.
Whether a police officer needs case assistance, desperate parents are seeking help to
find their child, or a citizen is asking for information on child safety, all it takes is
one call, to the High-Tech Search Network of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children 1-800-THE LOST (1-800-843-5678).
