ABSTRACT

When we think of a missing child we think of incidents like Adam Walsh, Jacob Wetterling, Elizabeth Smart, and Jessica Lunsford. However, the problem of missing children is a far more complex issue than we can imagine. America does not know how many children are missing in the United States per year. A missing child could be a runaway, family abduction, nonfamily abduction, or a child who miscommunicated his or her whereabouts to his or her parent or caregiver. Each of these missing children classiªcations has its own complexity and unique characteristics.