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May | June 2015

Department of Justice Observes National Missing Children's Day

Speakers at this year’s National Missing Children’s Day observance. From left to right: Robert L. Listenbee, OJJDP Administrator; Karol V. Mason, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs; Carlina White, abduction survivor; Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney General; Patty Wetterling, parent of a missing child and board chair of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; and William Campbell, Judicial Officer, U.S. Postal Service.
Speakers at this year’s National Missing Children’s Day observance. From left to right: Robert L. Listenbee, OJJDP Administrator; Karol V. Mason, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs; Carlina White, abduction survivor; Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney General; Patty Wetterling, parent of a missing child and board chair of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; and William Campbell, Judicial Officer, U.S. Postal Service.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) marked its annual observance of National Missing Children’s Day with a ceremony at DOJ’s Great Hall in Washington, DC, on May 20, 2015. Hosted by OJJDP, the ceremony honors missing children and recognizes the efforts made by law enforcement personnel and citizens to protect children from harm.

“The Department of Justice will never pause, will never rest, and will never cease in our effort to protect this country’s young people,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch in her remarks. “We will do everything we can to find children who have gone missing, to reunite them with their loved ones, and to stand beside them and their families as they do the hard work necessary to recover their lives and restore their futures. And we will continue … to expand and advance this work together.”

The Attorney General was introduced by Karol V. Mason, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, who thanked the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for its three-decade partnership with DOJ. Ms. Mason commended the center for its ongoing work to “develop and refine tools that are vital to protecting children,” such as the CyberTipline, the Child Victim Identification Program, and the AMBER Alert network.

 

left quote[T]o all of you who spend your days working to find missing and exploited children, we’re grateful for everything you do—and we’re proud to stand beside you.right quote

—Karol V. Mason

  Assistant Attorney General

Office of Justice Programs

NCMEC board chair Patty Wetterling offered remarks at the event as did abduction survivor and child advocate Carlina White, and Judge William Campbell, Judicial Officer of the U.S. Postal Service, who presented Ms. Mason with a framed version of the Missing Children "Forget-Me-Not" stamp.

Awards were presented to recognize the heroic efforts of people who have made a difference in recovering abducted children and in protecting children from exploitation. The awards and recipients were as follows:

  • Attorney General’s Special Commendation: Special Agent William Thompson, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, for identifying 28 child victims in 10 states who were manipulated into sharing sexually explicit images of themselves.
  • Missing Children’s Law Enforcement Award: Cpl. Christopher Heid, Child Recovery Unit, Maryland State Police, for investigating 109 missing children cases and recovering 99 children, as well as for participating in 227 human trafficking investigations, and developing an anti-trafficking training program that has educated more than 550 law enforcement officers and victim advocates.
  • OJJDP Administrator Missing Children’s Citizen Award: Assistant Principal Jeneé Littrell, Chaparral High School, El Cajon, CA, for supporting an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, DOJ, and local law enforcement that led to the arrests of 22 people who had recruited nearly 100 middle and high school girls for a gang-related prostitution ring.
  • Missing Children’s Child Protection Award: Special Agent Paul Wolpert, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, for uncovering the videotaped sexual abuse of children between ages 1 and 5. His investigation led 5 women to plead guilty to the crime of producing child pornography, and to the conviction and life sentence of 1 man on 31 counts, including the production of child pornography. 2015 Missing Children's Day Poster

Since 2000, OJJDP has hosted a national poster contest for fifth graders as a way to raise young people's awareness about missing children. This year, Sydney Kekel from City School in Grand Blanc, MI, received the Missing Children’s Day Art Contest Award.

The ceremony was preceded by and concluded with performances by the Washington Performing Arts Gospel Youth Choir of Washington, DC. The Marine Corps Junior ROTC Color Guard of Gar-Field Senior High School of Woodbridge, VA, was on hand for the Presentation of Colors.

President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25, 1983, as the first National Missing Children's Day. Since then, family members, friends, public agencies, and private organizations have gathered throughout the country to rededicate themselves to finding missing children, celebrating heartwarming stories of recovery, and honoring those who are still missing. This year’s DOJ commemoration was attended by more than 250 people, including families of missing children, law enforcement officers, child advocates, and others who support programs to recover missing and exploited children.

Resources:

Resources for parents of missing and abducted children are available via OJJDPs website.

The Offices Missing and Exploited Children's Program website offers resources and training and technical assistance to help practitioners develop and strengthen their responses to child victimization.

Information about the Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP’s) AMBER Alert Program is also available online. In recognition of National Missing Children's Day, OJP’s National Criminal Justice Reference Service has created a special feature, Missing Kids, which provides critical AMBER Alert information as well as access to resources for families and law enforcement.