National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children
Established in 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® is the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. working with law enforcement, families and the professionals who serve them on issues related to missing and sexually exploited children. As part of its Congressional authorization, NCMEC has created a unique public and private partnership to build a coordinated, national response to the problem of missing and sexually exploited children, establish a missing children hotline and serve as the national clearinghouse for information related to these issues.
To help support NCMEC's nonprofit work, NCMEC receives federal funding for certain core services and also utilizes broad based, private sector support from corporations, foundations and individuals.
Our work
Over the last 29 years, our national toll-free hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), has handled more than 3.7 million calls. With help from corporate partners, we have circulated billions of photos of missing children, and our employees have assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 183,000 missing children. We have trained more than 300,000 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and health care professionals at our Alexandria, Va. headquarters, our branch offices and online.
As the Internet has become a primary tool for sexually exploiting children, NCMEC received Congressional authorization to establish the CyberTipline which provides a centralized mechanism for the public and electronic service providers to report suspected child sexual exploitation which can often involve multiple jurisdictions. Since 1998, the CyberTipline has received more than 1.7 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation, and the Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed more than 80 million child pornography images.
Since launching our first safety programs more than two decades ago, we have worked to put in place the policies, educational initiatives and public-private partnerships to prevent the victimization of children. That work continues today through our Take 25 campaign, NetSmartz Workshop, Technology Coalition, Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography and other initiatives to confront ever-changing risks to the wellbeing of our children.
Among other services, we rapidly deploy members of Team Adam, all retired law enforcement professionals, when children are critically missing to assist in the search and offer our free resources. We have access to many public databases and can help with case analysis and mapping. Our forensic artists create age-progressed photos and facial and skull reconstructions, and we provide assistance to help the U.S. marshals track more than 100,000 noncompliant sex offenders. A team of social services professionals provides emotional support to families and victims. Outreach teams work in communities to make child safety a daily concern. Our education experts develop free programming.
Our funding
Over the years, NCMEC has been able to greatly expand our services as a result of our federal funds and private-sector money and in-kind contributions. These valuable donations enable us to provide free resources to law enforcement, families and the professionals who serve them.
Our staff
Based in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, we have grown from a staff of five to a team of more than 350 employees and 200 volunteers. Today, we perform 19 specific functions as authorized by Congress and work with law enforcement, the private sector and families to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization.
