
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC5771]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
         CHAPTER 72--JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION
 
                     SUBCHAPTER IV--MISSING CHILDREN
 
Sec. 5771. Findings

    The Congress hereby finds that--
        (1) each year thousands of children are abducted or removed from 
    the control of a parent having legal custody without such parent's 
    consent, under circumstances which immediately place them in grave 
    danger;
        (2) many of these children are never reunited with their 
    families;
        (3) often there are no clues to the whereabouts of these 
    children;
        (4) many missing children are at great risk of both physical 
    harm and sexual exploitation;
        (5) in many cases, parents and local law enforcement officials 
    have neither the resources nor the expertise to mount expanded 
    search efforts;
        (6) abducted children are frequently moved from one locality to 
    another, requiring the cooperation and coordination of local, State, 
    and Federal law enforcement efforts;
        (7) on frequent occasions, law enforcement authorities quickly 
    exhaust all leads in missing children cases, and require assistance 
    from distant communities where the child may be located;
        (8) Federal assistance is urgently needed to coordinate and 
    assist in this interstate problem;
        (9) for 14 years, the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
    Children has--
            (A) served as the national resource center and clearinghouse 
        congressionally mandated under the provisions of this 
        subchapter; and
            (B) worked in partnership with the Department of Justice, 
        the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the 
        Treasury, the Department of State, and many other agencies in 
        the effort to find missing children and prevent child 
        victimization;

        (10) Congress has given the Center, which is a private nonprofit 
    corporation, access to the National Crime Information Center of the 
    Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Law Enforcement 
    Telecommunications System;
        (11) since 1987, the Center has operated the National Child 
    Pornography Tipline, in conjunction with the United States Customs 
    Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service and, 
    beginning this year, the Center established a new CyberTipline on 
    child exploitation, thus becoming ``the 911 for the Internet'';
        (12) in light of statistics that time is of the essence in cases 
    of child abduction, the Director of the Federal Bureau of 
    Investigation in February of 1997 created a new NCIC child abduction 
    (``CA'') flag to provide the Center immediate notification in the 
    most serious cases, resulting in 642 ``CA'' notifications to the 
    Center and helping the Center to have its highest recovery rate in 
    history;
        (13) the Center has established a national and increasingly 
    worldwide network, linking the Center online with each of the 
    missing children clearinghouses operated by the 50 States, the 
    District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as with Scotland Yard 
    in the United Kingdom, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, INTERPOL 
    headquarters in Lyon, France, and others, which has enabled the 
    Center to transmit images and information regarding missing children 
    to law enforcement across the United States and around the world 
    instantly;
        (14) from its inception in 1984 through March 31, 1998, the 
    Center has--
            (A) handled 1,203,974 calls through its 24-hour toll-free 
        hotline (1-800-THE-LOST) and currently averages 700 calls per 
        day;
            (B) trained 146,284 law enforcement, criminal and juvenile 
        justice, and healthcare professionals in child sexual 
        exploitation and missing child case detection, identification, 
        investigation, and prevention;
            (C) disseminated 15,491,344 free publications to citizens 
        and professionals; and
            (D) worked with law enforcement on the cases of 59,481 
        missing children, resulting in the recovery of 40,180 children;

        (15) the demand for the services of the Center is growing 
    dramatically, as evidenced by the fact that in 1997, the Center 
    handled 129,100 calls, an all-time record, and by the fact that its 
    new Internet website (www.missingkids.com) receives 1,500,000 
    ``hits'' every day, and is linked with hundreds of other websites to 
    provide real-time images of breaking cases of missing children;
        (16) in 1997, the Center provided policy training to 256 police 
    chiefs and sheriffs from 50 States and Guam at its new Jimmy Ryce 
    Law Enforcement Training Center;
        (17) the programs of the Center have had a remarkable impact, 
    such as in the fight against infant abductions in partnership with 
    the healthcare industry, during which the Center has performed 668 
    onsite hospital walk-throughs and inspections, and trained 45,065 
    hospital administrators, nurses, and security personnel, and thereby 
    helped to reduce infant abductions in the United States by 82 
    percent;
        (18) the Center is now playing a significant role in 
    international child abduction cases, serving as a representative of 
    the Department of State at cases under The Hague Convention, and 
    successfully resolving the cases of 343 international child 
    abductions, and providing greater support to parents in the United 
    States;
        (19) the Center is a model of public/private partnership, 
    raising private sector funds to match congressional appropriations 
    and receiving extensive private in-kind support, including advanced 
    technology provided by the computer industry such as imaging 
    technology used to age the photographs of long-term missing children 
    and to reconstruct facial images of unidentified deceased children;
        (20) the Center was 1 of only 10 of 300 major national charities 
    given an A+ grade in 1997 by the American Institute of Philanthropy; 
    and
        (21) the Center has been redesignated as the Nation's missing 
    children clearinghouse and resource center once every 3 years 
    through a competitive selection process conducted by the Office of 
    Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the Department of 
    Justice, and has received grants from that Office to conduct the 
    crucial purposes of the Center.

(Pub. L. 93-415, title IV, Sec. 402, as added Pub. L. 98-473, title II, 
Sec. 660, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2125; amended Pub. L. 106-71, 
Sec. 2(a), Oct. 12, 1999, 113 Stat. 1032.)

                       References in Text

    This subchapter, referred to in par. (9)(A), was in the original 
``Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984'' and was translated as 
meaning the ``Missing Children's Assistance Act'', which enacted this 
subchapter, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.


                               Amendments

    1999--Pars. (9) to (21). Pub. L. 106-71 added pars. (9) to (21).


                             Effective Date

    Subchapter effective Oct. 12, 1984, see section 670(a) of Pub. L. 
98-473, set out as an Effective Date of 1984 Amendment note under 
section 5601 of this title.


                               Short Title

    For short title of title IV of Pub. L. 93-415, which enacted this 
subchapter, as the ``Missing Children's Assistance Act'', see section 
401 of Pub. L. 93-415, as added by Pub. L. 98-473, set out as a note 
under section 5601 of this title.
