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“NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN DAY” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S4451-S4452 on May 25, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN DAY
Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I rise today to promote awareness of missing children and honor those who work to search and rescue the thousands of children who disappear each year. As my colleagues may know, today is recognized as National Missing Children Day.
In proclaiming the first National Missing Children Day in 1983, President Ronald Reagan noted, ``Our children are the Nation's most valuable and most vulnerable asset. They are our link to the future, our hope for a better life. Their protection and safety must be one of our highest priorities.'' Since that time, National Missing Children Day has been a reminder that we must strengthen our resolve to keep children safe.
I believe that the Federal Government can help state and local law enforcement agencies reunite missing and runaway children with their families. In particular, the Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children Protection Act enacted by Congress last year is an example of an effective federal and state partnership that reduces crime and prevents missing children cases. This law reauthorized the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program through fiscal year 2003 and provides local communities with the resources to find missing children and prevent child victimization.
In my home state, the Jacob Wetterling Foundation and Missing Children Minnesota have worked effectively to locate missing children and raise public awareness about ways to prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation. Additionally, the Minnesota Association of Runaway Youth Services, comprising eighteen nonprofit agencies in Minnesota, has been instrumental in providing services to runaway and homeless youth and their families. Their efforts have been guided by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program, which provides resources to community-based organizations to provide outreach, temporary shelter, and counseling each year to thousands of Minnesota's homeless young people.
I am also working to secure federal funding to support the State of Minnesota's development of a statewide criminal justice information sharing system that would allow police, judges, and other criminal justice professionals to communicate quickly about the criminal histories of violent offenders. My proposal will help to provide local communities with the technology to identify criminals and protect our communities from sexual predators and violent offenders.
As chairman of the Minnesota House Crime Prevention Committee, Representative Rich Stanek recently led the effort to pass ``Katie's Law''--legislation that will provide state funding for an integrated criminal justice system. I greatly appreciate Representative Stanek's dedication to improving the Minnesota criminal justice system and the opportunity to work with him on this very important public safety initiative.
Mr. President, I again commend the numerous volunteers, organizations, businesses, state legislators, and government agencies who all work on a daily basis to find missing children. I look forward to our continued work together.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise to commemorate this very special day, National Missing Children's Day. Proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and honored by every administration since, May 25th is the day 6 year old Ethan Patz disappeared from a New York City street corner on his way to school in 1979. His case remains unsolved and is an annual reminder to the nation to renew efforts to reunite missing children with their families and make child protection a national priority. As a mother of two beautiful children, I cannot imagine what I would do if my children were missing. All of us with children know that this a parent's greatest nightmare. Yet every 18 seconds a child disappears, and so each day over three thousand parents go through the terror of losing their child.
The Theme of this year's National Missing Children's Day is ``Picture them Home.'' This national public awareness campaign is aimed at encouraging the public at large to be aware of their important role in the recovery of these children. One in six children featured in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's photo-distribution program is recovered as a direct result of someone in the public recognizing the child in the picture and notifying the authorities. Unlike so many of our national tragedies, we can do something to help return a missing child to their families. I urge the American public to really look closely at pictures of missing children they see. The small gesture can be the key to reuniting a mother or father with their missing child.
In closing, I would like to commend those individuals who were honored this morning by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Fraternal Order of Police and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice Fifth Annual National Missing and Exploited Children's Awards Ceremony.
Sergeant Investigator Awilda Cartagena, Texas Dept. of Public Safety--For the recovery of Johnny Tello, a family abduction victim from Dallas, Texas, after a six-year search. Special Agent K. Jill Hill, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Little Rock, Arkansas--For the location and recovery of non-family abduction victim, three-year-old Destiny Leann Richards, who was kidnapped from her home in Mabelvale, Arkansas, on June 11, 1999, and located in a wooded area the next evening following extensive ground searches. Detective Captain David W. Bailey, accepting for the Lancaster (Ohio) Police Department--for the successful local location and recovery of three-year-old Ashley Taggart, abducted in April 1999 and found three days later in the home of a twice-convicted sexual predator. Senior Resident Agent Scott Wilson, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Painesville, Ohio, Township Division--for the recovery of Nicole Nsour, an international child abduction victim, whose non-custodial father abducted her and held her in Jordan for over two months. Postal Inspector Paul Groza, Jr., U.S. Postal Inspection Service-Northwest Portland, Oregon--for the investigation resulting in the conviction of Jonathon and Sarah Aragorn for their construction of a Web Site to procure children for sexual relations with themselves and their children. Officer James E. Lee, Lake Bluff, Illinois, Police Department--For the investigation and arrest of Donald C. Moore, a local child mentor who was victimizing area youth entrusted to his care. Detective Michael Schirling, Burlington, Vermont, Police Department--For the investigation and apprehension of a 19-year-old fraternity president, summer camp counselor and student at the University of Vermont at Burlington, for possession of child pornography and child sexual abuse.
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