Chapter 2
Responding to Child Victimization

Many of the nation's children face a tough time growing up. They are preyed upon by other children and sometimes by adults, including family members and acquaintances. These children are often subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Even children who are not victims of such abuse often witness violence in their neighborhoods and homes and in the media. In addition, ready access to the Internet has left parents and child protection and law enforcement agencies struggling to protect children from online victimization, including pornography and child prostitution.

Protecting children from abuse and other crimes has long been a priority at OJJDP, and as the types of abuse have changed over the years, so have OJJDP's responses. The Office supported a broad array of programs during FY 2002, all designed to help families and communities respond to child victimization. The programs run the gamut from providing reliable statistics about missing and exploited children to demonstrating constructive interventions for children exposed to violence to confronting cyber crimes of online sexual exploitation.

Many of OJJDP's FY 2002 achievements focused on the issue of missing children. For example, the Office released new findings from a series of research studies, called public attention to the issue of missing and exploited children through a White House conference, sponsored a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the Missing Children's Act, and collaborated with state and local entities to adopt AMBER Alert plans, which notify the public immediately when a child is reported missing.

Although OJJDP's primary goal is to prevent child victimization, addressing intervention and treatment issues is equally important. Research has found that individuals who experience maltreatment during childhood are significantly more likely to display a variety of problems during adolescence, including serious and violent delinquency, teen pregnancy, drug use, low academic achievement, and mental health problems. Research also shows that children who witness domestic violence experience higher levels of childhood behavioral, social, and emotional problems than children who have not witnessed such violence. Thus, intervention and treatment are of paramount importance.

OJJDP addressed these issues through a variety of activities. One program, Children's Advocacy Centers, helps all components of the system—law enforcement, child protection workers, medical and mental health professionals, and prosecutors—work together on child abuse and neglect cases. Because courts play a pivotal role in child abuse cases, OJJDP supports several programs in this area. One initiative provides advocates to make sure that the judicial system serves the best interests of abused and neglected children, and another helps communities replicate model court programs.

Reliable information and training are also important tools in combating child victimization, and OJJDP continued to provide both to practitioners, researchers, and the public during FY 2002. A national conference, for example, offered practical information about successful intervention strategies for addressing crimes against children. The OJJDP-funded National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) continued to play a pivotal role in working with parents, law enforcement, and the public on issues related to missing and exploited children. In addition, OJJDP published several new documents about child victimization—some directed to parents, others to law enforcement.

The programs discussed in this chapter represent OJJDP's commitment to helping communities and the juvenile justice system respond more effectively to child victimization. Diverse in design and implementation, all of these programs offer information and strategies to help America's children grow up safely.

AMBER Alert Activities

Statistics indicate that kidnapped children are at greatest risk of harm in the first hours after an abduction; of those children who are killed by their abductor, 74 percent are killed within 3 hours, and 99 percent within 24 hours. That is why it is so important to get information about missing children out to the public as soon as possible. One way to do this is through AMBER Alert plans.

The first AMBER plan was introduced in Texas in 1996 in memory of Amber Hagerman, a young girl from the Dallas area who was kidnapped and murdered. Shocked and outraged by Amber's death, citizens contacted radio stations in the Dallas area and suggested that they broadcast special alerts to help prevent such tragedies in the future. In response, the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers teamed with local law enforcement agencies in northern Texas to develop an early warning system that could help find abducted children.

Other communities across the nation also began to implement AMBER plans. As of March 2003, 49 local and regional plans and 38 statewide plans had been established, and AMBER plans had been credited with the recovery of 47 children.

The plans use the same Emergency Alert System (EAS) that is deployed in severe weather emergencies. When a law enforcement agency confirms that a child has been abducted, it notifies a designated primary EAS radio station, which relays the information to all area radio and TV stations and cable systems. Radio stations then interrupt their programming with the alert, and TV stations and cable systems run a "crawl" message on the screen (often with a photo of the child).

During FY 2002, NCMEC (discussed later in this chapter) spearheaded a campaign to promote national implementation of AMBER Alerts. The alerts were in the national spotlight as Congress began working on legislation to pass a national AMBER Alert Act² and when President Bush directed the Attorney General to name an AMBER Alert National Coordinator, Deborah J. Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for OJP, was designated as National Coordinator and is helping to develop, enhance, and coordinate AMBER plans nationwide. Ms. Daniels serves as a central point of contact and works with states and local communities to increase the number of AMBER plans and to ensure that these plans work together to create a national network.

Complete details about AMBER Alert are available on the NCMEC Web site (www.missingkids.com). The site includes guidelines for establishing a local AMBER Alert plan, an "AMBER Alert Kit" for law enforcement agencies and broadcasters, and information on AMBER Alert plan locations. Detailed information about national coordination of AMBER Alert activity is available on OJP's AMBER Web site (www.amberalert.gov).

Association of Missing and Exploited Children's Organizations

To help improve the quality, availability, and coordination of services provided to missing and exploited children and their families, OJJDP awarded a grant to the Association of Missing and Exploited Children's Organizations (AMECO) of Bronxville, NY, in FY 2002. The organization works to ensure the effective management and coordination of public and private sector assistance to missing and exploited children and their families. AMECO services include parent-to-parent mentoring for families who have a child missing (Team H.O.P.E.). Further information about AMECO is available from its Web site (www.amecoinc.org).

Children's Advocacy Centers

A Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) is a comprehensive, child-focused program, located in a child-friendly setting, that brings together law enforcement, child protection professionals, prosecutors, and mental health and medical staff to handle child abuse and neglect cases. Because CACs are designed by communities to meet their particular needs, there are many types. The mission of all CACs, however, is to ensure that children are not further victimized by the systems designed for their protection and to provide consistent, compassionate support for child victims and their families.

Since FY 1993, OJJDP has provided funds to the National Children's Alliance (NCA, formerly the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers), of Washington, DC, to help communities develop CACs and multidisciplinary teams. As authorized by the Victims of Child Abuse Act, OJJDP established four Regional Children's Advocacy Centers (RCACs) in 1994 to further assist in the development of CACs. These centers are the Midwest RCAC in St. Paul, MN; the Northeast RCAC in Philadelphia, PA; the Southern RCAC in Huntsville, AL; and the Western RCAC in Colorado Springs, CO. Information on states served by each RCAC is available from NCA (call 800–239–9950 or visit www.nca-online.org).

During FY 2002, NCA provided 414 subgrants to help communities develop and support CACs. The RCACs and NCA also provided 179 training events. Through funding from OJP's Office for Victims of Crime in FY 2002, OJJDP provided $200,000 to NCA for tribal demonstration grants. NCA has awarded grants to three American Indian communities to help them develop fully operational CACs. This tribal initiative will continue through FY 2004, and each site will receive $110,000 each year.

During FY 2002, the RCACs and NCA also continued to expand the NCAnet program, which links communities through teleconferencing. Eighteen sites participated in teleconferencing and received training and technical assistance in areas such as peer review of medical findings and forensic interviews, multidisciplinary case review/consultations, and current issues in assessing child abuse.

Court Appointed Special Advocate Program

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs help ensure that abused and neglected children who are living in foster care (or are at risk of being placed in foster care by a judicial system) receive timely, sensitive, and effective representation in dependency hearings. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate in court for the best interests of abused or neglected children. The program started as a pilot program in Seattle, WA, in January 1977, with 110 trained volunteers. Today, there are more than 58,000 CASA volunteers nationwide.

The National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (NCASAA) of Seattle, WA, which was founded in 1982 to help replicate and support CASA programs across the nation, has been supported by OJJDP since 1984. Today, NCASAA represents more than 950 programs, which are located in every state and in Washington, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NCASAA encourages the development of new CASA programs and strengthens existing programs by providing training and technical assistance, information, and resources to all components of the juvenile justice system. The association is focusing on communities where representation rates are low, the numbers of abused and neglected children are high, and service systems are not meeting the needs of families and children. NCASAA is also helping to develop state CASA organizations, which will help provide services to local programs.

NCASAA offers seminars, conferences, electronic online services, a resource library, information materials, publications, and consultation services. NCASAA also sponsors an annual national training conference for CASA program staff and volunteers, social workers, judges, and attorneys. The 2002 conference, "Changing a Million Lives—One Life at a Time," was held April 27–30, 2002, in San Diego, CA. Antwone Fisher, who wrote a best-selling book and a movie script about his experiences as a foster child, was a featured speaker, and 1,394 individuals attended the conference.

During FY 2002, NCASAA released its national training curriculum, which is the basis of volunteer training in most CASA programs, and provided local and regional training sessions on the manual. NCASAA also piloted a self-assessment tool developed as part of its Quality Assurance initiative, which includes the NCASAA Standards for CASA Programs. The self-assessment will be mandatory for all programs in 2003. In addition, NCASAA provided 80 grants to CASA programs and chapters during FY 2002. More information about NCASAA is available at its Web site (www.nationalcasa.org).

Crimes Against Children Conference

OJJDP sponsored the 14th Annual Crimes Against Children Conference on August 5–8, 2002, in Dallas, TX. The conference provided practical instruction—based on the latest information and ideas and the most successful intervention strategies—for professionals involved in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting crimes against children. Presented by the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center and the Dallas Police Department, the conference brought together nearly 2,000 law enforcement and child protective services workers, attorneys, child advocates, and others who work directly with cases involving crimes against children.

Speakers included U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R–TX) and Donna Norris, mother of Amber Hagerman, a young Dallas girl who was kidnapped and murdered. (The first AMBER Alert was introduced in Texas in 1996 in memory of Amber). In addition, Patricia Bradbury, whose daughter was kidnapped but returned safely because of AMBER Alert, spoke at a press conference held in connection with the conference.

Conference workshops gave participants the opportunity to hear veteran detectives describe investigative techniques for cases involving child victims and to learn about evidence collection techniques from special agents of the FBI. Prosecutors demonstrated questioning techniques and offered case development guidelines. Workshops were also taught by experts in child protective services.

Internet Crimes Against Children

OJJDP awarded a total of $1.8 million in FY 2002 funding to six law enforcement agencies to create Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force programs in their communities. The following additional agencies were awarded grants as part of OJJDP's efforts to expand the ICAC program to areas that do not currently have a regional task force presence: the City of San Jose, CA; Georgia Bureau of Investigation; Indiana State Police; Kentucky State Police; Louisiana Attorney General's Office; and St. Louis, MO, Police Department.

Crimes Against Children Conference

OJJDP sponsored the 14th Annual Crimes Against Children Conference on August 5–8, 2002, in Dallas, TX. The conference provided practical instruction—OJJDP created the ICAC Task Force Program in 1998 to help state and local law enforcement agencies prevent and respond to online crimes against children. ICAC funding helps these agencies develop regional, multijurisdictional, and multiagency task forces to prevent, interdict, and investigate ICAC offenses. ICAC regional task forces conduct investigations and prosecute criminals who sexually exploit children. These task forces conduct computer forensic examinations and provide other law enforcement agencies with technical assistance necessary to investigate these crimes. The task forces also provide prevention education—through publications, presentations, and public service announcements—to parents, children and teenagers, educators, prosecutors, law enforcement, and professionals working on child victimization issues. Currently, 36 regional task forces coordinate the activities of more than 160 law enforcement agencies in 46 states. As of September 2002, ICAC task forces had participated in more than 3,500 investigations and assisted in more than 2,500 computer forensic examinations.

In FY 2002, OJJDP published Protecting Children in Cyberspace: The ICAC Task Force Program. This Bulletin provides an overview of the ICAC program.

Model Courts Initiative

Studies indicate that children who are abused and neglected are at significantly higher risk for academic failure, chronic delinquency, adult criminal behavior, antisocial personality disorder, and violent crime. Studies have also shown that the longer a child remains in out-of-home care, the greater the probability of negative outcomes. Preliminary research suggests that more efficient and effective dependency courts can reduce the length of time children spend in the system. Through the Model Courts initiative, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) of Reno, NV, provides intensive training and technical assistance to improve the courts' handling of child abuse and neglect cases and ensure more timely decisionmaking in permanency planning.

With OJJDP funding support, NCJFCJ assisted 24 Model Court programs across the nation during FY 2002. Model Court sites tailor and implement the promising practices outlined in Resource Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases, a nationally recognized handbook developed by NCJFCJ for use by dependency courts and the child welfare community with which they collaborate. NCJFCJ also incorporates lessons gleaned from reforms in Model Court sites into publications and other forms of technical assistance for dependency courts nationwide. More information about the Model Courts initiative and the achievements of individual courts is available on NCJFCJ's Web site (www.pppncjfcj.org/html/model_courts.html).

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Since 1984, NCMEC, located in Alexandria, VA, has spearheaded a national effort to prevent child abduction and exploitation and to return missing children to their families. The center operates a 24-hour toll-free hotline (800–843–5678), which has received more than 1.7 million calls from around the world. The hotline staff can handle phone calls in more than 140 languages.

NCMEC maintains a Web site (www.missingkids.com), which includes publications and information about protecting children. The center also manages the CyberTipline (www.cybertipline.com), where citizens can report suspicious online activity involving sexual exploitation of children.

During FY 2002, NCMEC took the lead in a national campaign to implement AMBER Alerts. The center also assisted OJJDP in sponsoring National Missing Children's Day and the White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children.

NCMEC, in partnership with Toys "R" Us, launched the National Photo ID Program. Introduced in all Toys "R" Us stores, the program provides parents with an up-to-date photo of their child. The photo is taken with a digital camera and logged onto a floppy disk, which contains other pertinent information that can be used if the child becomes missing.

In addition, NCMEC's International Division updated its Web site with a new section, "Resources for Attorneys Handling International Child Abduction Cases." The new section provides information to support attorneys working on cases involving the Hague Convention, a treaty designed to deter international child abduction.

National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children

The words "missing child" call to mind tragic and frightening kidnappings reported in the national news. But a child can be missing for many reasons, and the problem of missing children is far more complex than the headlines suggest. Getting a clear picture of how many children become missing—and why—is an important step in addressing the problem. OJJDP released important new findings from a major research study about this issue at the White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children in October 2002. The findings from the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART–2) provide national estimates of missing children based on surveys of households, juvenile residential facilities, and law enforcement agencies. The study also presents statistical profiles of these children, including their demographic characteristics and the circumstances of their disappearances. The first NISMART study was conducted in 1988; NISMART–2 spanned the years 1997 to 1999.

To help disseminate findings from the surveys, OJJDP designed and released a special series of NISMART–2 publications. To date, two online Fact Sheets and four Bulletins have been released. The online Fact Sheets are Highlights From the NISMART Bulletins and NISMART Questions and Answers. The four Bulletins present selected survey findings, analyze the findings, and discuss their policy implications. Key findings from the Bulletins are highlighted below.

• National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview. The total number of children who were missing from their caretakers in 1999 (i.e., their caretakers did not know their whereabouts and were alarmed for at least an hour while trying to locate them) is estimated to be 1,315,600. Nearly all of these children (1,312,800 or 99.8 percent) had returned home or had been located by the time the study data were collected.
  
  
• Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Characteristics During the study year, there were an estimated 115 stereotypical kidnappings, defined as abductions perpetrated by a stranger or slight acquaintance and involving a child who was transported 50 or more miles, detained overnight, held for ransom or with intent to keep the child permanently, or killed. In 40 percent of stereotypical kidnappings, the child was killed.
  
  
• Children Abducted by Family Members: National Estimates and Characteristics. An estimated 203,900 children were victims of a family abduction in 1999. Among these, 117,200 were missing from their caretakers, and of these, an estimated 56,500 were reported to authorities for assistance in locating the children.
  
  
• Runaway/Thrownaway Children: National Estimates and Characteristics. In 1999, an estimated 1,682,900 youth had a runaway/thrownaway episode (i.e., either ran away from home or were thrown out by their caregivers). Of these youth, 37 percent were missing from their caretakers and 21 percent were reported to authorities for purposes of locating the youth.

National Missing Children's Day

On May 23, 2002, OJJDP and NCMEC marked the 20th anniversary of the Missing Children's Act at the annual National Missing Children's Day ceremony, held at the DOJ Great Hall of Justice in Washington, DC. The theme was "20 Years of Searching To Bring Our Missing Children Home." Guests included children who had been missing but were found and reunited with their families, parents of children who were still missing, law enforcement officers who investigate these cases, child advocates, and individuals and corporate sponsors dedicated to reuniting families. During the ceremony, former U.S. Senator Paula Hawkins of Florida, one of the leading proponents of the Missing Children's Act, recalled the challenges encountered in passing the Act.

The prestigious Law Enforcement Officers of the Year Award was shared by four officers, who were recognized for their combined, multijurisdictional efforts to find a 17-year-old girl who was abducted from a shopping mall parking lot in Kearney, NE. The girl was recovered 7 days later in Montana and reunited with her family. Honorees were Under- sheriff Michael Sargeant and Sheriff William Barron from the Lake County Sheriff's Office in Polson, MT; Special Agent Douglas Schreurs from the FBI Field Office in Grand Island, NE; and Investigator Tony Cordova from the Kearney Police Department. Eight other law enforcement officers and two organizations were also honored for their efforts on behalf of abducted and abused children.

The Volunteer Award for 2002 went to Steven Cullen, Esq., of the Miles & Stockbridge law firm in Baltimore, MD, in recognition of the thousands of hours of services he has donated to parents whose children have been abducted to other countries. ChoicePoint, Inc., of Alpharetta, GA, received the 2002 Corporate Leadership Award.

Several youth were also recognized at the ceremony, illustrating that children play a crucial role in the safety and recovery of other youth. Keisha Reigert of Cape Girardeau, MO, and Lorelie Trujillo of Irving, TX, received 2002 Courage Awards for helping to bring missing children home to their families. Kelsey Sauerer, a middle school student from Sartell, MN, received a certificate for creating the winning poster in the 2002 Missing Children's Day Art Contest.

Safe Start Initiative

OJJDP began the Safe Start Initiative in FY 1999 to help communities prevent and reduce the impact of family and community violence on young children. The program is based in part on the Child Development-Community Policing (CD–CP) pilot program developed by Yale University and the New Haven (CT) Police Department with OJJDP support. The CD–CP program brings together police officers and mental health professionals to provide constructive intervention for children who have witnessed or been victims of violent crime.

OJJDP awarded more than $6 million in grants in FY 2001 to nine sites to develop comprehensive programs to help children exposed to violence. The sites are Baltimore, MD; Bridgeport, CT; Chatham County, NC; Chicago, IL; Pinellas County, FL; Rochester, NY; San Francisco, CA; Spokane, WA; and Washington County, ME. In FY 2002, OJJDP added two tribal sites to the initiative: Pueblo of Zuni, NM; and Sitka Tribe, AK.

The grantees used their first-year funding to review existing community services and identify gaps. Based on these reviews, each site has developed and is now implementing a 6-year comprehensive plan that emphasizes coordination among law enforcement, mental health and medical professionals, and child protective services providers. These plans include efforts such as child advocacy centers, home visitation programs, and domestic violence services for battered mothers whose children are at high risk of exposure to violence.

In addition to funding these 11 Safe Start sites, OJJDP continued support for 18 more months to two sites—Miami, FL, and Newark, NJ—that are focusing on specific improvements to services for children exposed to violence. The National Civic League of Denver, CO, through its office in Washington, DC, is working with OJJDP to coordinate and provide broad-based training and technical support to the Safe Start sites. In addition, a national team led by Caliber Associates of Fairfax, VA, is collaborating with the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence, located in New Haven, CT, to provide training and technical support to help sites develop partnerships between police and mental health professionals.

White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children

A major achievement for OJJDP in 2002 was its participation in the first White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children, which was held October 2, 2002, in Washington, DC. President Bush presented keynote remarks at the conference, and several top-ranking federal officials—Attorney General John Ashcroft, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Education Secretary Rod Paige, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Secretary of State Colin Powell—took part in the conference. OJJDP and NCMEC joined the White House in sponsoring the event. The all-day conference drew more than 600 attendees, including officials from all levels of government, law enforcement personnel, families of child victims, researchers, and corporate leaders.

The President told participants:

[This conference] is the beginning of a refocused effort at the federal level to help save people's lives. . . . This is the beginning of a successful strategy implemented at all levels of government and all parts of our society to recognize a real threat and to deal with it; to recognize there are some so evil in our society that they're willing to harm our most precious and most vulnerable citizens; to be prepared to respond quickly when that happens; to help people prevent it from happening in the first place; and to make it clear, if you do it and we catch you, there's going to be serious consequences for you.

Both the Attorney General and the FBI Director stressed that efforts to address the problem of missing and exploited children remain a DOJ priority, even as the Department focuses on homeland security issues.

The conference included seven panel sessions, which centered on recent research findings, prevention of child victimization, and effective law enforcement policies for handling crimes against children. One session addressed concerns, prompted by a number of nationally publicized abductions during the summer of 2002, that law enforcement cannot always prevent abductions or return children unharmed to their families. OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores moderated this panel session on "What Works," which highlighted technologies, law enforcement efforts, and community responses that demonstrate how much progress has been made in developing tools to help keep children safe from abduction and exploitation. Other topics discussed in the panel sessions included child abduction, domestic and international parental kidnapping, sex trafficking of children, child pornography, runaway and homeless youth, Internet safety, and corporate and community involvement.

In connection with the conference, the White House announced the release of a new guidebook, Personal Safety for Children: A Guide for Parents, available in English and Spanish at the NCMEC Web site. OJJDP also announced the release of an updated edition of its guidebook for families of missing children, When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide, and the recent publication of A Law Enforcement Guide on International Parental Kidnapping.

OJJDP also released a new series of publications based on the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART–2).

Additional information about the conference, including remarks by the President and other high-ranking federal officials, is available at www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/white_house_conf.

New Publications

OJJDP published several documents in FY 2002 to help researchers, law enforcement, parents, and the public respond to child victimization. These included the NISMART–2 publications described earlier in this chapter and the publications described below.

The Criminal Justice System's Response to Parental Abduction. OJJDP funded a study to determine whether and how the criminal justice system intervenes when parents abduct their children. The study reviewed all stages of the criminal justice system's response to parental abduction, including the reporting of the abduction, investigation of the case, finding and recovery of the child, and criminal prosecution of the perpetrator or perpetrators. This 16-page Bulletin summarizes findings from the study, which was conducted for OJJDP by the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law, located in Washington, DC, and Westat, located in Rockville, MD.

A Family Resource Guide on International Parental Kidnapping. Every year, hundreds of children in the United States are victims of international parental kidnapping, defined as an abduction to a foreign country by a noncustodial parent. This 148-page publication provides detailed and practical advice about preventing international kidnapping and increasing the chance that children who are kidnapped or wrongfully retained will be returned. The guide discusses what can be done to prevent an international parental kidnapping, stop a kidnapping in progress, locate a kidnapped or wrongfully retained child in another country, bring an abductor to justice, recover a kidnapped or wrongfully retained child from another country, and reestablish access to a child in another country. The guide also presents descriptions and realistic assessments of the civil and criminal remedies available in international parental kidnapping cases. It explains applicable laws, offers practical advice on overcoming frequently encountered obstacles, and prepares parents for the legal and emotional difficulties they may experience.

Issues in Resolving Cases of International Child Abduction by Parents. This 20-page Bulletin describes key findings from a study funded by OJJDP to identify barriers encountered by those seeking to resolve cases of international child abduction by parents. The Bulletin features highlights from the study, including survey results, best practices, and recommendations. The study is one of the first attempts to develop extensive research findings about the experiences of left-behind parents, practices of the Hague Convention Central Authorities, and strategies that can be used by attorneys, judges, law enforcement personnel, and other professionals in recovering abducted children quickly and safely. The study was conducted for OJJDP by the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law.

A Law Enforcement Guide on International Parental Kidnapping. A companion publication to A Family Resource Guide on International Parental Kidnapping, described above, this 116-page guide is designed for local, state, and federal law enforcement officers called upon to respond to cases of international parental kidnapping. Although these cases present formidable challenges, the challenges can be overcome when law enforcement actions are timely and informed. This guide presents information that officers need to work effectively with custodial parents to locate and reclaim their children. The guide suggests ways to prevent international abductions; discusses applicable laws, legal remedies, and potential liabilities; describes the role of law enforcement as the initial responder and investigator; and offers strategies for extradition, reunification, and recovery. (Note that this publication is not available online.)

The Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. This 16-page Bulletin describes the most recent in a series of laws designed to deter interstate parental kidnapping and promote uniform jurisdiction and enforcement provisions in interstate child-custody and visitation cases. The law was approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1997.

When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide. OJJDP released a second edition of this popular 94-page guide in October 2002. Written in 1998 by parents for parents, the guide provides firsthand insights into what families can expect and should do when their children are missing. The updated guide includes new contact information and Web sites. The guide is divided into seven chapters, each structured to help parents find information quickly and easily. The chapters explain both short- and long-term issues and provide checklists and chapter summaries for later reference. A Spanish translation—Cuando su Niño Desaparece: Una Guía para la Supervivencia de la Familia—is also available.

On the Horizon

Responding to Prostitution of Children

Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts in America

During FY 2002, OJJDP developed a new project to help courts that handle child abuse and neglect cases manage and track data. A competitive solicitation for the Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts in America: Management Information Systems Project (SANCA MIS) was released in March 2003. This project will help abuse and neglect courts develop, implement, and maintain automated information systems, which will enhance court compliance with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 by automating national functional data standards and tracking national performance measures. The solicitation is based on the Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act (Public Law 106–314, authorized in October 2000).

²President Bush signed the AMBER Alert Act into law on April 30, 2003.