National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (Alexandria, VA)

General

• Mission:

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's mission is to find missing kids, prevention abduction & exploitation, and assist victims, their families, and the professionals that serve them.

• History:

Two tragic events spurred the formation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC). In 1979, 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared from the streets of New York. The massive search efforts and media interest that followed focused the nation’s attention on the problem of child abduction. Then, in 1981, a 6-year-old boy named Adam Walsh was abducted and murdered in Hollywood, Florida. His murder drew awareness to the need for a clearinghouse that would help coordinate the efforts of law-enforcement at a state and national level. Adam’s parents, John and Revé Walsh, co-founded NCMEC with the vision to help other families of missing children. In 1984, NCMEC opened our doors to (1) help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation; (2) help find missing children; and (3) assist victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation, their families, and the professionals who serve them.

Over the last 25 years, our Missing Children Division has increased the rate of recovery from 62% to 96% for missing kids reported to NCMEC. In 1996, NCMEC was tasked with establishing our Exploited Child Division (ECD) by the U.S. Congress. The ECD serves as a resource center for the public, parents, law enforcement, and others about the issues surrounding the sexual exploitation of children. In 1998, ECD increased our capacity to fight child sexual exploitation by establishing the CyberTipline. The CyberTipline is a reporting mechanism for cases of child sexual exploitation including child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child. Reports can be made 24-hours a day, 7 days a week online at www.cybertipline.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678. To date, the CyberTipline has handle over 693,000 reports.

• Year established:1984

Registration

• Organization type:Grantseeker
• Country of registration:United States
• Year established:1984
• Tax Determination Letter:Received Determination Letter
• IRS Section:501(c)(3)
• IRS Subsection:509(a)(1)

Web Listing

• Guidestar listed:Yes
• Charity Navigator listed:Yes
• Give.org listed:Yes
• Charity Watch listed:Yes