The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s^® (NCMEC) mission is to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; help find missing children; and assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them.

Since its establishment, NCMEC has handled more than 2.2 million calls through its Hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST; trained 256,000 law-enforcement officers and other professionals; and disseminated over 44 million free safety and prevention publications. NCMEC has worked with law enforcement on more than 157,000 missing child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 142,000 children. In our 25 year existence, we have raised our recovery rate of missing kids from 62% to over 97% today.

The establishment of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was spurred by two tragic events. In 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from the streets of New York City while on his way to school. The massive search efforts and media interest that followed focused the nation's attention on the problem of child abduction.

Then, in 1981, a 6-year-old boy named Adam Walsh was abducted and murdered in Hollywood, Florida. His murder drew awareness to the need for a clearinghouse for missing and exploited children that would help coordinate the efforts of law-enforcement at a state and national level. Adam's parents, John and Revé Walsh, co-founded the organization with the impetus and vision to help other families of missing children.

The US Department of Justice reported that in a one-year period of time -

• 1,682,900 children ran-away or were thrown-away
• 203,900 children were abducted by a non-custodial family member -
• 58,200 children were victims of non-family abductions
  

Research also indicates 1 in 5 girls, and 1 in 10 boys, will be sexually exploited before adulthood.

• Department of Justice Grant - $31,715,505
• Individual Donor - $3,500,000
• The Estate of Sari Asher - $1,400,000