(1) Every year thousands of adults become missing due to advanced age, diminished mental capacity, or foul play. Often there is no information regarding the whereabouts of these adults and many of them are never reunited with their families.
(2) Missing adults are at great risk of both physical harm and sexual exploitation.
(3) In most cases, families and local law enforcement officials have neither the resources nor the expertise to undertake appropriate search efforts for a missing adult.
(4) The search for a missing adult requires cooperation and coordination among Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and assistance from distant communities where the adult may be located.
(5) Federal assistance is urgently needed to help with coordination among such agencies.
(6) Since 2001, following the enactment of Kristen's Act (Public Law 106-468), the National Center for Missing Adults has--
(A) served as a national resource center and information clearinghouse for missing adults;
(B) provided training to investigative law enforcement officers to prepare such officers to appropriately respond to missing adult cases; and
(C) worked in cooperation with the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office for Victims of Crime of the Department of Justice, the International Homicide Investigators Association, and many other agencies in the effort to find missing adults and prevent victimization.
(7) The National Center for Missing Adults is working to provide policy training to police chiefs and sheriffs regarding the issues of missing adults.
(8) The demand for the services of the National Center for Missing Adults is growing substantially.
U.S. Congress - Text of H.R.423 as Introduced in House Kristen's Act Reauthorization of 2007
