Assistance program
Missing Children's Assistance
$715.2 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Office of Justice Programs, Justice, Department of
- Assistance
- Project Grants
- CFDA number
- 16.543
- What it does
- 1) Goal(s): To support research, training, technical assistance, and demonstration programs addressing the prevention, investigation and services for missing and exploited children and families, and professionals who work to prevent, recover and assist missing and exploited children, including victims of online and/or commercial sexual exploitation. 2) Establish and maintain a national resource center and clearinghouse dedicated to missing and exploited children issues. 3) Support the AMBER Alert program, through training and technical assistance grants to enhance partnership between law-enforcement agencies, broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate urgent bulletins in child-abduction cases. Objective(s): Objective to Goal 1 (1) Support enhancements to law enforcement’s investigative responses to missing and exploited children issues through programs and activities (e.g., the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program), (2) support Missing Children's Day activities, programs focused on the online and/or commercial sexual exploitation of children, and the Supporting Effective Interventions for Youth with Problematic or Illegal Sexual Behavior program and (3) develop training programs for law enforcement, child protective services, medical personnel, and prosecutors to enhance coordination and effectiveness of missing and exploited children investigations and to enhance the overall system response, and (4) identify gaps in areas of interstate travel (such as borders, ports, checkpoints) and develop programs to meet specialized needs of parents or guardians of children who are reported missing. Objective to Goal 2 (1) Provide a toll-free hotline where citizens can report investigative leads and parents and other interested individuals can receive information concerning missing children; (2) provide technical assistance as well as trainings to parents, law enforcement, and other professionals working on missing and exploited children cases; (3) promote information sharing and provide technical assistance by encouraging networking opportunities between regional nonprofit organizations, state missing children clearinghouses, and law enforcement agencies; (4) develop publications that contain practical, timely information about supporting missing and exploited children issues; and (5) provide information regarding programs offering free or low-cost transportation services that assist in reuniting children with their families. Objective to Goal 3 DOJ is not responsible for the decision to release individual AMBER Alerts, but rather OJP uses these funds to support the AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance Center to increase the capacity of law enforcement to respond to missing, endangered, and abducted children including continued efforts to increase capacity within territories and American Indian/Alaska Native communities to respond to incidents of endangered, missing, and abducted children cases and (2) to increase the number of AMBER Alert plans developed with Tribal nations as well as filling gaps and in areas of interstate travel (such as ports, borders, and airports). Performance Measure(s): PM 1: Percentage of technical assistance requests delivered PM 2: Percentage of organizations who employed a new evidence-based or promising service, policy, or practice recommended by a technical assistance provider PM 3: Number of training events held PM 4: Number of individuals trained (population trained)