The Committee for Missing Children has a three-fold 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 ìfreedom of informationî request to see what has been collected by the vary 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 the area of 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 Samís 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.