There were 25,074 cases of missing children reported; an increase of 46 percent from the 17,232 cases reported in 1985. Overall, an average of 1,863 cases of missing children were under active investigation at the end of each month. The summer months appeared to have the largest active caseloads. The majority of the cases were reported from the State's largest urban areas. Statewide, older children accounted for the largest proportion of missing children cases. Just over half (57 percent) of the reported cases involved females and two times as many cases involved white children (61 percent) as nonwhite children (39 percent). The single largest category of missing children cases were 15 year old white females who comprised 11 percent of the total cases reported during 1989. The overwhelming majority of cases entered into the Register involved suspected runaways (89 percent); abductions (1 percent); and lost children (less than 1 percent). The circumstances of disappearance were not known in 9 percent of the cases. 11 tables, 6 figures, and appendix