National Missing Children’s Day: A Time To Renew Our Commitment

The following post appears courtesy of Jeff Slowikowski, Acting Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. As Attorney General Eric Holder has observed, “Nothing is more important to parents than the safety and welfare of their children.” The return of missing children to their families is a constant and consistent priority of the Department of Justice. Since President Ronald Reagan first proclaimed National Missing Children’s Day in 1983, Americans have gathered across the nation to mark this occasion by renewing their commitment to the recovery of missing children.   Today, Attorney General Holder addressed the Justice Department’s observance, which affirmed the Department’s ongoing commitment to protecting children and bringing missing children home. The Attorney General was introduced by Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, Laurie Robinson, who also offered remarks. Attendees were also addressed by Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Patty Wetterling, a noted advocate for missing children and their families. Tragically, the lessons she imparted were learned at great personal cost, the abduction of her son Jacob in 1989. The extraordinary efforts of those working selflessly to return abducted children to their homes were honored during the ceremony.

• FBI Special Agent Michael Conrad received the Missing Children’s Law Enforcement Award for his crucial role in the recovery of a 2-year-old girl kidnapped from an Arizona laundromat in 2009.
• Two other FBI Special Agents, Catherine Koontz and James Lewis, were honored with the Missing Children’s Child Protection Award for their investigation leading to an indictment on child exploitation charges.
• The Missing Children’s Citizen Award was granted to Anthony Palma, Denultra Camp, and James Pantoja, of the Tombstone, Arizona, Postal Facility, for their role in recovering a boy kidnapped by his noncustodial mother in 2009.
• Finally, Assistant District Attorney Kelly Miller of the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force was honored with the Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award for her role in the successful prosecution of a defendant charged with six counts of first degree sex offenses.
• The national winner of the annual Missing Children’s Art Contest, Billy Joe Reyes Collado, from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, was also recognized at the event.

During DOJ’s observance of National Missing Children’s Day, the Office of Justice Programs’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention released two publications related to missing children. The Crime of Family Abduction: A Child’s and Parent’s Perspective reveals why the abduction of children by family members is a serious crime that must be treated as such. When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide is the fourth edition of this pioneering guide for families of missing children written by parents of missing children. The annual commemoration of National Missing Children’s Day is an important observance, but the Department of Justice’s commitment and work to return missing children to the safety of their homes continue 365 days a year.