Frequently Asked Questions

When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention report, contains helpful information for families about what to do when a child is missing.

For additional information, visit the Child and Youth Victimization section of our website.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) publication A Family Resource Guide on International Parental Kidnapping provides information about and guidance on what to do if an international parental kidnapping has occurred.

Also, the U.S. Department of State has an International Parental Child Abduction page to assist the parent of an abducted child. Assistance may also be obtained from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

For additional information, visit the Child and Youth Victimization section of our website.

Resources to assist child abduction victims and their families are available on the Missing and Exploited Children section of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention site. For additional information about child abduction, visit the Child and Youth Victimization section of our site.

Information on children found at methamphetamine labs can be found in the OVC publication, Children at Clandestine Methamphetamine Labs: Helping Meth's Youngest Victims.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) defines dating violence as violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic of intimate nature with the victim. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors—

• the length of the relationship,
• the type of relationship, and
• the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

For additional information, visit the Intimate Partner Violence section of our site.

If you have not yet contacted law enforcement officials to report your missing child, please do so immediately. Ask them about the issuing an AMBER Alert.

Through AMBER Alert, law enforcement agencies and broadcasters activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child abduction cases. Request that law enforcement put out a Be On the Look Out (BOLO) bulletin. Ask them about involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the search for your child.

Additional helpful information for families about what to do when a child is missing is available in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide and Missing and Exploited Children page. You may also contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 800-843-5678 and view their Missing-Child, Emergency-Response, Quick-Reference Guide for Families.

Finally, visit the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) website. NamUs is a clearinghouse for missing persons and unidentified decedent records. This free online system can be searched by law enforcement officials, other allied professionals, and the general public to solve these cases.

Visit the Report a Crime section of the U.S. Department of Justice website to learn how you can report child pornography or cases involving the sexual exploitation of children.

You can also report suspicion of child sexual exploitation to your local police, your Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline (file a report online or call 800-843-5678).

Missing and exploited children statistics are available in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics reports and in the Statistics section of the Office of Justice Program's Missing Children Special Feature.

For additional information about missing children, visit the Child and Youth Victimization section of our website and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website.

The U.S. Department of State's Children's Passport Issuance Alert Program works to prevent international parental child abduction. The program allows parents to register their U.S. citizen children under the age of 18. If a passport application is submitted for that registered child, the U.S. Department of State will contact and alert the parent(s).

To learn more and to register a child, visit the Passport Issuance Alert Program website.

You can learn about the signs associated with child abuse and neglect by viewing the Child Welfare Information Gateway fact sheet, What Is Child Abuse and Neglect? Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms.

If you need to report a case of suspected child abuse or neglect, each state designates specific agencies to receive and investigate reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Typically, this responsibility is carried out by Child Protective Services. For information or assistance with reporting, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline:

• Toll Free: 800-4-A-CHILD (800-422-4453)
• Text START to 800-4-A-CHILD (800-422-4453)
• Online chat: childhelphotline.org

You may also contact your local Child Protective Services agency.