Organizations
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
"Like so many things in American life, it was born out of tragedy. It really was a byproduct of a series of terrible cases in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Best known of which was of course the abduction and murder of 6-year-old Adam Walsh in Hollywood, Florida in 1981. And, in 1984, we proposed the creation of a kind of national resource center; a place that would tie together, create a national response to these kinds of cases. My vision, candidly, was that it should be a wing of the FBI, and it was the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who said if this going to work it needs to be a private organization working in partnership with government. So on June 13, 1984, the president of the United States officially announced the opening of a new national center for missing and exploited children. So, we’ve been here now 27 years." |
John Walsh, father of Adam Walsh, and Former-President Ronald Reagan joined forces to create the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984. The Center has greatly affected the search for missing children:
Ernie AllenFormer President and co-founder of the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, on why the recovery rate of the NCMEC is climbing nowadays.
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A Child Is Missing
Child Find of America Inc.
A national not-for-profit organization dedicated to the prevention and resolution of child abduction.
"Child Find was founded in 1980 by the mother of a missing child in upstate New York, when there was limited law enforcement response to missing children and no laws about parental/family abduction. Little was understood about the devastation child abduction has on the child." |
AMBER Alerts
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In 1996, 9 year old Amber Hagerman, of Arlington, Texas, was abducted and brutally murdered. In her honor, the AMBER Alerts were created. AMBER, stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.
Personal interview with Barbara HuggettDirector of Research and Development for the National Child Safety Council, on the Milk Carton and AMBER Alert's impact for today's missing children, and the change in law enforcement.
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"The Amber Alert should be in every state in this nation. It absolutely saves children's lives. Abducted -- stranger abducted children, it saves their lives, because time is of the essence."
- John Walsh, father of missing boy Adam Walsh and host/creator of "America's Most Wanted"
These are some of the more famous organizations and programs created after the Milk Carton Campaign. There are, however, many other foundations, programs, and independent organizations worldwide that deal with missing children.