Missing children

Children who disappear from home or from boarding schools or institutions or during travel may have been abducted or may be runaways. Abduction may be kidnapping for ransom or for revenge or other motives. Abducted children may be sexually violated, tortured and murdered. Runaways chance eventual abduction and victimization. In war zones and occupied countries children frequently become missing or separated from their parents.

The number of cases world-wide of missing children exceeds two million annually. In the USA, over 3,000 children are reported missing each day.