Missing Children's Assistance Act of 2018 - P.L. 115-267

Overview

S. 3354
Enacted October 11, 2018

Purpose: To reauthorize through fiscal year 2023 programs and activities for missing and exploited children and audit requirements for grant recipients

Major Provisions of the Act

• Revised the definition of 'missing child' to mean an individual under age 18 whose whereabouts are unknown to the individual's parent (in prior law, legal custodian)
• Specified that a parent includes a legal guardian or an individual who functions as a parent (e.g., a grandparent)
• Revised the functions and duties of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) as follows:
  • To provide technical assistance and training to families, law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, elements of the criminal justice system, nongovernmental agencies, local educational agencies, and the general public concerning the following:
    • The prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of cases involving missing and exploited children
    • The response to foster children missing from the State child welfare system in coordination with child welfare agencies and courts handling juvenile justice and dependency matters
    • The identification, location, and recovery of victims of, and children at risk for, child sex trafficking
  • To assist families, law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, nongovernmental agencies, child-serving professionals, and other individuals involved in the location and recovery of missing and abducted children nationally and, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State, internationally
  • To provide support and technical assistance to child-serving professionals involved in helping to recover missing and exploited children by searching public records databases to help in the identification, location, and recovery of such children and help in the location and identification of potential abductors and offenders
  • To provide forensic and direct onsite technical assistance and consultation to families, law enforcement agencies, child-serving professionals, and nongovernmental organizations in child abduction and exploitation cases, including facial reconstruction of skeletal remains and similar techniques to assist in the identification of unidentified deceased children
  • To provide training, technical assistance, and information to nongovernmental organizations relating to noncompliant sex offenders and to law enforcement agencies in identifying and locating such individuals
  • To work with families, law enforcement agencies, electronic service providers, electronic payment service providers, technology companies, nongovernmental organizations, and others on methods to reduce the existence and distribution of online images and videos of sexually exploited children by doing the following:
    • Operating a tipline to provide individuals and electronic service providers an effective means of reporting internet-related and other instances of child sexual exploitation in the following areas:
      • Possession, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography
      • Online enticement of children for sexual acts
      • Child sex trafficking
      • Sex tourism involving children
      • Extra-familial child sexual molestation
      • Unsolicited obscene material sent to a child
      • Misleading domain names and words or digital images on the internet
    • Making reports received through the tipline available to the appropriate law enforcement agency for its review and potential investigation
    • Operating a child victim identification program to assist law enforcement agencies in identifying victims of child pornography and other sexual crimes
  • To support the recovery of children from sexually exploitative situations
  • To utilize emerging technologies to provide additional outreach and educational materials to parents and families
  • To develop and disseminate programs and information to families, child-serving professionals, law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, schools, local educational agencies, child-serving organizations, and the general public on the following:
    • The prevention of child abduction and sexual exploitation
    • Internet safety, including tips for social media and cyberbullying
    • Sexting and sextortion
  • To provide technical assistance and training to local educational agencies, schools, State and local law enforcement agencies, individuals, and other nongovernmental organizations that assist with finding missing and abducted children in identifying and recovering such children
• Required NCMEC to make publicly available the annual report on missing children and the incidence of attempted child abductions