The Cause
The tragic abduction and murder of 6-year-old Adam Walsh in 1981, as well as those of Etan Patz and Russel Mort, brought national attention to the issues faced by the families of missing children each year. Local business and community leaders, including Lou and Kathie Bivona and local child welfare agencies, responded by forming the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center in 1984. Located in Rochester, New York, the Adam Walsh Center merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1990 to become the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children/New York Branch.
What is The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children?
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's (NCMEC/NY) mission is find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization.
NCMEC/NY Offers:
- Prevention education classes for parents, children, law enforcement, and other professionals
- Internet safety education through our NetSmartz safety education programming
- Mandated reporter classes to improve the identification, response and reporting of child abuse
- Case assistance to law enforcement and families on missing children's cases
- Poster distribution to targeted areas across the nation based upon investigative leads
- A state of the art training facility for law enforcement
DID YOU KNOW:
- In 2018 NCMEC assisted law enforcement and families with more than 25,000 cases of missing children.
- Of the more than 23,500 runaways reported to NCMEC in 2018, one in seven were likely victims of child sex trafficking.
- NCMEC’s Child Victim Identification Program, which helps to locate and rescue child victims in abusive images, has reviewed more than 283 million images and videos and law enforcement has identified more than 17,000 child victims.
HOPE IS WHY WE'RE HERE