First and foremost, we are a parent advocacy group. We assist parents by providing the help they deserve and ensuring that their rights are protected.

Through the dedication of our photo partners, we produce and distribute billions of images of missing children worldwide.

We gather and share information, serve as a clearinghouse for information and the laws about missing children, and are developing the largest database in this country on missing children.

 

UNDERSTANDING OUR MISSION

 

The first phase of our mission deals with parent advocacy. We want to ensure that parents of missing and abducted children receive all the help they deserve and that the rights of parents are protected Today there are no laws that give a parent control over the search for their own children. In fact, many parents do not even have the right to see the information collected on their own children. In some cases, parents are required to send in a "freedom of information" request to see what has been collected by the various agencies set up to help them. In many cases parents end up looking for their own children, and they have to do it themselves if they want to get it done. In November, 1995, The Committee for Missing Children brought together a group of parents of missing children to form the first-ever parent advocacy group. Again in August, 1999 the Committee brought together 25 parents and 37 agencies and professionals to develop a handbook/reference guide for parents of missing and abducted children. In May 2000, we held a meeting of parents and professionals in Langenselbold, Germany where we maintain an office. Our goal was, and continues to be, to bring together all parents of missing and previously missing children. Only then will these parents start to develop the clout needed to force law enforcement, local, state, and Federal officials, to recognize their plight.

 

Second, we are a photo distributor. Our objective is to distribute as many pictures of missing children as we can. We do this by encouraging educational dealers, manufacturers and publishers to produce pages of missing children and distributing them throughout the country. The Committee for Missing Children has become a leader in publicizing family abductions. Along with our photo partners, we have printed over two billion images, representing over 1,500 missing children. These pictures go into the schools by several means; catalogs, inserts, box stuffers, etc. It is our conclusion that most family-abducted children will eventually end up enrolled in school. Through our poster program, we have distributed pictures, both domestically and internationally, of stranger-abducted children, family-abducted children and endangered runaways. Through a distribution program with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, our posters were placed in all Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs. We have found that although one out of six children is located through photo distribution, we want to increase the odds.

 

The last phase of our mission is information gathering. It is our objective to be a clearinghouse for information on missing and abducted children as well as the laws that govern the missing children field. We will also file and disseminate case histories that deal with both domestic and internationally abducted children. The Committee for Missing Children, Inc. is in the process of developing the largest database in the United States on missing children. This database will be available to parents of missing children, other non-profit child-find groups, both domestic and international, and local, state, and national agencies that deal with missing children.

 

 

WHY HAVE WE CREATED THIS WEB SITE?

 

As you'll note in our Mission Statement, we are a Parent Advocacy group and we serve as an information clearinghouse. This web site was created as a resource for parents of missing children as well as lawyers, other non-profits and non-governmental agencies, and the agencies that must deal with child abduction. As both an educational and informational resource, our site addresses many of the weaknesses in global child-find systems. We link to almost one hundred non-profit child-find organizations and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's) throughout the world. Our site will be continually evolving as we receive more information.

 

Many non-profit child-find organizations have been created to assist parents in the search and recovery of their children, as well as work in the areas of safety and prevention. Use this web site as a tool to contact these child-find groups and us so that our system of governmental and non-profit groups can help you with your child-find needs.

 

When children are abducted by a parent across international boarders, it presents both the left-behind parent and the two countries involved with a variety of problems. Some of these problems are easy to solve while others can be almost insurmountable.

 

In 1980, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction was agreed to and presented to the member states for ratification. Today the Treaty is in force between the United States and 54 countries or territories.

 

In Europe, parents of missing children should check to see if their country has ratified The Treaty with the country their child was abducted to. For instance, the United States has not ratified the treaty with Costa Rica, but eight other countries have. Check the Child Abduction Home Page for a complete listing of all countries and whom they have ratified the treaty with.

If a child is taken to a country that has not signed the Hague Treaty a parent may have to rely on other means of recovering the children or requesting some kind of access. A parent may need a good lawyer who knows about child abduction as well as the specific laws governing those countries. While things become more difficult if there is no treaty or agreement in place, the struggle may not be hopeless.

Parents of abducted children are going to need help working their way through red tape and obstacles that seem to prevent the successful recovery of an abducted child. Organizations such as the Committee for Missing Children/U.S., Committee for Missing Children/Europe and the many other child-find organizations worldwide can help. Our goals, through this web, are as follows:

1. Supply advice and information to parents of internationally abducted children

2. Supply a list of contacts for parents
3. Display pictures of abducted children
4. Raise awareness about international parental abduction
5. Raise political awareness about international parental abduction
6. Supply links to other organizations that may assist a parent in the recovery of their child
7. Offer reports, testimony, and other information that will educate and inform parents, lawyers, and NGO's about the subject of international abduction
8. Supply links to governments and agencies throughout the world that may be able to assist a parent in locating or gaining access to their children

 

We believe that through the sites and phone numbers of those listed, you will find people very helpful in getting you the information you need.

 

As Parent Advocates, we have spent the last two years working with parents of missing children and child-find groups to create the Parents Handbook, the "Bible for Parents" of what to do, who to contact and how to deal with the emotions of searching for a lost child. This resource will be available free to anyone in need in summer of 2001.

 

All of us at The Committee for Missing Children hope you find the information and links contained herein helpful to your child-find endeavors.

 

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