If you should happen to be the parent/family member of a missing child time is now working against you! Please follow the steps below to report your missing child or another missing child.

Step 1: Report it to your local law enforcement agency or 911 IMMEDIATELY!!!!! DO NOT WAIT!
Law Enforcement needs to know if your child is missing so they can start searching for them. They would much rather be called even if the child is found right away or was just hiding. They WILL NOT be upset for calling them and your child was just hiding. You never know, they may not be hiding and may need help so calling them is VERY important!!! They like seeing happy endings any way they can get it! The longer you wait to report the child missing the greater chance of them getting out of the immediate area increases making the search much more difficult. Statistics show that most children that are abducted and then killed are most likely killed within the first 3 hours. Many times when the child is taken and found within the first 3 hours they are found alive...so timing is EVERYTHING!!

Act immediately if you believe that your child is missing.

• If your child is missing from home, search the house checking closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, inside old refrigerators—wherever a child may crawl or hide.

• If you still cannot find your child, immediately call your local law-enforcement agency.

• If your child disappears in a store, notify the store manager or security office. Then immediately call your local law-enforcement agency. Many stores have a Code Adam plan of action—if a child is missing in the store, employees immediately mobilize to look for the missing child.

• When you call law enforcement, provide your child's name, date of birth, height, weight, and any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces. Tell them when you noticed that your child was missing and what clothing he or she was wearing.

• Request that your child's name and identifying information be immediately entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person File.

• After you have reported your child missing to law enforcement, call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children on our toll-free telephone number, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678). If your computer is equipped with a microphone and speakers you may talk to one of our Hotline operators via the Internet

STEP 2: Contact us at Operation Find A Child!
After contacting law enforcement please contact us at Operation Find A Child so we can start distributing flyers and information via the internet.

Information gathered from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website and A Lost Child website run by The Shawn Hornbeck Foundation.