歪歪漫画

WASHINGTON, DC 鈥� In the midst of the 2024 presidential election season, both sides of the aisle have come together to agree on one thing: funding for missing and exploited children.

The Missing Children's Assistance Act, first under President Ronald Reagan, was renewed on June 7, 2024, by President Joe Biden, providing an annual budget of $49.3 million through 2028 for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and its efforts to find missing children and combat exploitation of minors.

鈥淥ver the years, we鈥檝e continued to expand our programs as we learn how children can be harmed, and NCMEC continues to be very responsive to new threats to children,鈥� Yiota Souras, NCMEC鈥檚 chief legal counsel said in a press release. 鈥淭his Act is the recognition by Congress that NCMEC is uniquely qualified to fulfill these 16 programs to keep children safe.鈥�

In addition to funding, the act expands its language to accurately reflect the reality facing exploited children, according to NCMEC. The term child pornography is now replaced with child sexual abuse material, reflecting the true nature of violent images of children who are not able to consent.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big deal, because child pornography doesn鈥檛 begin to capture what鈥檚 really happening in these images with nothing consensual about it,鈥� NCMEC鈥檚 executive director of communications wrote in a recent blog post. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e crime scene photos.鈥�

NCMEC has long referred to graphic and violent images of children as child sexual abuse material. Federal law still uses child pornography to define the crime. NCMEC representatives are hopeful this change will have ripple effects, ultimately resulting in federal changes to the name of the crime.

The act also includes changes in language related to the crime of traveling overseas to sexually exploit children. What previously was coined sex tourism is now officially described as extraterritorial child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Missing Children鈥檚 Assistance Act requires the Department of Justice to partner with a national resource center to execute its goals relating to juvenile justice.

NCMEC, a non-profit organization, has served as that partner since the act鈥檚 inception in 1984. It now boasts 16 programs aimed at preventing child abductions, finding the missing and halting cases of child exploitation.

Known for starting the milk carton campaign and creating age-enhanced photos 鈥� and posters 鈥� for missing children cases that have gone cold, NCMEC is familiar among law enforcement agencies.

Photo provided by Bismarck Police Department

The organization also facilitates the collection of DNA samples from family members of the missing, which are then uploaded into the nationwide DNA database.

In the last 12 years, NCMEC has utilized DNA collection and technology to resolve roughly 600 cases involving unidentified and missing children.

Since its inception in 1984, the organization has successfully aided law enforcement in the recovery of more than 426,000 children. Its national hotline, which is managed around the clock, has taken more than 5 million calls, according to NCMEC.

NCMEC鈥檚 efforts to combat the exploitation of children has evolved over the years, particularly with the prevalence of the internet. In 1998, the CyberTipline was launched, which serves as the nation鈥檚 go-to for all reports related to child sexual abuse material and all other cases of online child sexual exploitation.

In the last year, the tipline fielded more than 36 million reports related to online child sexual exploitation.

The continuation of the Missing Children鈥檚 Assistance Act ensures the 40-year organization will continue to operate and expand its services 鈥� for at least the next four years.

Note: Anyone with information about a missing or exploited child should contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children by calling (800) 843-5678, or (800-THE-LOST).