OJJDP Annual Report 1998: Highlights

OJJDP launched its Missing and Exploited Children's Program Web site in April 1998. The Web site features Tips for Kids, which tell children where they should go if they are scared, lost, or need help and also provide children with information to help them avoid online exploitation. The site has pages devoted to children, parents, teachers, and law enforcement and is linked to other Web sites of the U.S. Department of Justice and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The site is averaging about 500 hits per month.

To help respond to the emerging threat posed by the use of computer technology to sexually exploit children, OJJDP implemented a new Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Program. The Office awarded a total of $2.4 million to 10 State and local law enforcement agencies to help them implement regional task forces to address and combat Internet crimes against children. The task forces include representatives from law enforcement, victim service, child protective service, and other government and nongovernment agencies. Ideally, these task forces will become regional clusters of technical and investigative expertise and will be part of a national law enforcement network providing assistance to parents, educators, prosecutors, and other professionals working on child protection issues.

The 10 jurisdictions receiving FY 1998 grants through the ICAC Program are Bedford County (VA) Sheriff's Office; Broward County (FL) Sheriff's Office; Colorado Springs (CO) Police Department; Dallas (TX) Police Department; Illinois State Police; New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services; Portsmouth (NH) Police Department; Sacramento County (CA) Sheriff's Office; South Carolina Office of the Attorney General; and Wisconsin Department of Justice.

In partnership with the Office for Victims of Crime and OJJDP, NCMEC administers a reunification program with the U.S. Department of State. Under the program, 21 American children in a number of countries have been reunited with their families in the United States. In one case, an American child was returned home after being abandoned in a Middle East refugee camp. In another recovery, a child missing for 3 years was located in the foster care system of an African country.

MECP also has been instrumental in helping parents whose children are victims of international abduction. In 1998, MECP received a National Performance Review Hammer Award, sponsored by Vice President Gore, for its work in this area. Research sponsored by OJJDP has found that parents often face many obstacles and incur insurmountable debt while searching for their abducted children outside the United States. Sometimes the search and legal proceedings are so expensive that parents cannot afford the airfare to bring their children home. In response to this need, OJJDP and the Office for Victims of Crime developed the International Child Abduction Travel Reunification Program, which provides travel funds to parents recovering their children from other countries.

As part of its coordination responsibilities, OJJDP chairs the Federal Agency Task Force on Missing and Exploited Children. During 1998, the task force convened a subcommittee on international parental abductions to discuss related issues, practices, and concerns and to consider Federal agencies' roles in responding to parents and family members, identifying the location of missing children, and facilitating their return home. The subcommittee drafted a report on recommendations to improve the Federal response to these cases and delivered it to the Attorney General in FY 1999.