Established in 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® is the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. working with law enforcement, families and the professionals who serve them on issues related to missing and sexually exploited children. As part of its Congressional authorization, NCMEC has created a unique public and private partnership to build a coordinated, national response to the problem of missing and sexually exploited children, establish a missing children hotline and serve as the national clearinghouse for information related to these issues.
Over the last 30 years, our national toll-free hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), has handled more than 4 million calls. With help from corporate partners, we have circulated billions of photos of missing children, and our employees have assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 202,000 missing children. We have trained more than 308,000 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and health care professionals at our Alexandria, Va. headquarters, our branch offices and online.
Since launching our first safety programs more than two decades ago, we have worked to put in place the policies, educational initiatives and public-private partnerships to prevent the victimization of children. That work continues today through our Take 25 campaign, NetSmartz Workshop, Technology Coalition, Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography and other initiatives to confront ever-changing risks to the wellbeing of our children.
