National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

NCMEC was established in 1984 as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to provide services nationwide for families and professionals in the prevention of abducted, endangered, and sexually exploited children. Pursuant to its mission and its congressional mandates, NCMEC: * Serves as the national resource center and information clearinghouse for missing and exploited children * Operates a national 24-hour toll-free hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), to intake reports of missing children and receive leads about ongoing cases * Operates the CyberTipline, the “9-1-1 for the Internet,” that the public and electronic service providers may use to report Internet-related child sexual exploitation * Provides information about services and Federal programs for missing and exploited children and their families * Provides assistance to families and law enforcement agencies in locating and recovering missing and exploited children, both nationally and internationally * Works with law enforcement and the private sector to reduce the distribution of child pornography over the Internet * Operates a child victim identification program to assist law enforcement in identifying victims of child pornography * Facilitates the deployment of the National Emergency Child Locator Center during periods of national disasters * Provides an annual report on the number of missing children reported to NCMEC to the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention * Provides guidance to state and local governments and nonprofit agencies on how to use school records and birth certificates to locate missing children