[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H6834-H6837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING PERSONAL SAFETY FOR CHILDREN
Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 484) expressing the sense of
the Congress regarding personal safety for children, and for other
purposes.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 484
Whereas 840,279 individuals were reported missing in 2001,
and 85 to 90 percent of these missing persons were children;
Whereas approximately 58,200 children were abducted by
nonfamily members in 1999, often in connection with another
crime;
Whereas 115 of all nonfamily abductions (those perpetrated
by strangers) resulted in the child being kept overnight,
held for ransom, or killed;
Whereas over 50 percent of the children kidnapped in
nonfamily abductions were taken away from the street in a
vehicle or from a park or wooded area;
Whereas a central element of the congressionally-mandated
mission of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children (NCMEC) is the prevention of child victimization;
Whereas the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, with the help of parents, local communities, and
law enforcement, has assisted in the recovery of
approximately 67,000 children;
Whereas the Departments of Justice, Health and Human
Services, and Education recently developed a booklet,
entitled ``Personal Safety for Children'', which offers easy-
to-read tips for parents to discuss safety and protection
measures with their children;
Whereas parents and educators need to teach children about
safety measures they can use to protect themselves against
abduction and exploitation and to encourage them to be smart,
strong, and safe; and
Whereas President George W. Bush plans to convene the
first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and
Runaway Children with policymakers, experts, community
leaders, teachers, and law enforcement to discuss how to
prevent the victimization of children: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That--
(1) it is the sense of the Congress that--
(A) Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and
communities should work together to prevent the victimization
of children; and
(B) communities, schools, and parents should learn more
about the steps that may be taken to safeguard children and
teach children the skills they need to be safe; and
(2) the Congress recognizes the booklet, ``Personal Safety
for Children'', as one of the tools available to help parents
and teachers talk with children about personal safety.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Delaware (Mr. Castle) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George
Miller) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle).
General Leave
Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks on H. Con. Res. 484.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Delaware?
There was no objection.
Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 484, a
resolution which recognizes the importance of personal safety for
children.
Last summer, child abductions dominated the news. Five-year-old
Samantha Runnion was taken from the driveway in front of her home in
Stanton, California. Six-year-old Cassandra
[[Page H6835]]
Williamson was abducted from her home in St. Louis, Missouri. And 7-
year-old Erica Pratt of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was snatched from
her yard but managed to escape from her kidnappers.
Last year 725,000 children were reported missing or abducted.
Although many of these children ran away or were taken by a parent,
3,000 to 5,000 of these child abductions did not involve a family
member, and 115 of these cases were the most serious type, where the
stranger was the perpetrator and the child was kept overnight, held for
ransom or killed.
Fortunately, increased public awareness and a more coordinated
response to child abductions has resulted in a decline of this most
serious type of abduction. Thanks to law enforcement, the National
Center on Missing and Exploited Children, media saturation and a
concerned public, the recovery rate of missing children is up from 62
percent just 10 years ago to 93 percent.
While we are all thankful to those who have helped return so many of
our children safely home, I believe we can do more to prevent crimes
against our children. Parents need to keep current photos of their
child, as well as a detailed description, including eye color, weight
and height, in the event of the unthinkable; and they need to talk to
their children about personal safety.
Recognizing that many parents do not know how to talk about safety in
a way that does not unduly alarm children and that Federal, State and
local law enforcement agencies and communities need to work together to
protect children, President and Mrs. Bush are hosting a conference
tomorrow, October 2, to raise public awareness about child
victimization and help families and communities to share ideas how they
can protect children.
In addition, the Departments of Justice, Health and Education, and
the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children created a
booklet, ``Personal Safety for Children, a Guide for Parents,'' which
will help parents discuss what children may be hearing about child
abductions. Among other things, the book gives parents commonsense tips
to help keep children safe, such as teaching them never to go anywhere
without permission. It gives children simple-to-follow safety rules
such as saying no if someone treats them in a way that makes them feel
scared or uncomfortable.
At President Bush's request, this booklet has been distributed by the
Department of Education to every school in the country. The recent rash
in child abductions and murders reminds us that we must work harder to
keep children and youth from becoming victims. Our children need to
understand that they are our number one priority and their safety is
our number one concern. To that end, I urge parents, schools and
communities to learn more about the steps they can take to safeguard
their children. I encourage all parents to use the booklet ``Personal
Safety for Children,'' available at www.missingkids.com as a tool to
talk to their children about personal safety and keep them smart, safe
and strong.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such
time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation and the
resolution to draw attention to the victimization of missing and
exploited children.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Lampson), who has given an extraordinary amount of his
time and effort and public service on this issue.
Mr. LAMPSON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California
(Mr. George Miller) for yielding me time to speak on this issue that I
have indeed considered a passion of my service in Congress and have
done a great deal of work. I also want to thank the gentleman from
Delaware (Mr. Castle) for the wonderful work he has done. He is the
former Governor of Delaware. I thank the gentleman for the work that he
has done not only when he served that State in the capacity as
Governor; but since he has been in Congress, he has been one of the
true leaders on the issue that has to do with child safety. We have
worked on not just this piece of legislation today, but others; and I
thank the gentleman for that. I think the people of the country will be
indebted to the gentleman forever.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to ask all of my colleagues to support H.
Con. Res. 484. We all know now the names of Elizabeth Smart and
Michelle VanDamme and all the other children who were tragically
abducted this summer. This sense of Congress expresses that we, the
representatives of children all across America, care about their well-
being and safety.
In 1996 just after I was elected, shortly after I took the oath of
office to this wonderful body, I did not even know about the issue. I
had not spoken about it. I knew a little bit about it because I have
children myself; but it came to my attention in such a way that it was
dramatic in that a little girl, Laura Kate Smither, was abducted and
murdered in my district. The search for her went on for 2\1/2\ weeks
before her body was found in a drainage ditch. The outpouring of
support that came from Friendwood, Texas, the support that the friends
and neighbors of the Smithers showed, and in the hurt that I saw in the
eyes of Bob and Gaye Smither when they learned of the death of their
daughter was phenomenal to me; and I vowed to come back here to
Washington, D.C. to do my best to make some kind of a difference on
these horrendous issues that affect so many of our children.
We soon found the wonderful people at the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children and learned of the need to have a coordinated
effort here in the House of Representatives, that we might be able to
work on legislation that so many different Members were working on in a
coordinated manner. So I was proud to be the person who spearheaded the
founding of the Congressional Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
The goal of that caucus was to serve as a unified voice for missing and
exploited children and to increase awareness on this issue.
This resolution serves both of those purposes. I stand here today
with my Republican and Democratic colleagues to say that missing kids
are not a partisan issue. We have worked together on this legislation
and many other pieces of legislation, including legislation on the
Amber Plan and Code Adam and the wonderful work that the gentleman from
Delaware (Mr. Castle) has done on curriculum that has been distributed.
And one of the things I often tell people at home when they ask, What
is it we can do? What can we do? It is easy for folks to pick up the
telephone and call a local school and ask them what their curriculum is
to teach children and at what levels. They need to be taught all the
way through school about what they can do.
It is no longer a simple matter of telling people, Do not talk to
strangers. The issue is much more significant than that. We say to the
public, Congress is concerned about our American children and their
safety. We believe that Federal, State and local law enforcement and
communities should work together to prevent the victimization of
children, and we are indeed trying to do just that.
The program that we have been hearing about with the Amber Alert that
I have just mentioned is one where the public becomes a partner with
law enforcement and extends law enforcement's ability to do
significantly greater things within our communities.
{time} 1530
We say to communities, schools and parents should learn more and
teach their children the skills they need to be safe.
I want to thank the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) for
introducing this legislation and letting me join him in the work on it
and all of our other colleagues. Together, Republican and Democrat
alike, we can make a difference in the lives of children everywhere. We
are doing so with this and other pieces of legislation.
I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 484.
Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds just to thank
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson) for all the work he has done.
They say nice things about the rest of us in terms of what we have
done, but he has spearheaded the movement to help in this area of
safety of children and deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that.
I just wanted to make sure that was understood.
[[Page H6836]]
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas).
Mr. GEKAS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Delaware (Mr.
Castle) for yielding me the time.
I rise in support of the resolution that he has brought to the floor
and commend him for the timeliness of it, the timeliness of it in
several different respects. It is very timely with respect to the
national discourse that is taking place on the exploitation of
children, the victimization of children in every kitchen across the
Nation, abduction of children, murder of children, kidnapping,
exploitation of every type. So it is timely in the national discourse.
But in the work of the Congress it is also timely, because tomorrow
the Committee on the Judiciary will be putting finishing touches on an
omnibus bill that includes many of the elements outlined in the
resolution that we are now considering.
I myself remember that about a month ago or so, I introduced a bill
which passed the House that had to do with offering more monitoring
capability on the part of judges to watch a sexual predator of children
after he is convicted and after his release to make sure that perhaps
even for a lifetime of that offender there is monitoring taking place.
That bill, which passed the House, is going to be part of this omnibus
bill tomorrow, as will several other items of new ideas in the question
of victimization of children.
Then, as the gentleman himself observed, tomorrow many of us will be
joining the President and the First Lady in the conference on
victimization on children, missing children, exploited children, and
that will highlight even more the awareness to which the gentleman from
Delaware has contributed by this resolution.
It seems to me that we are all on our way as Members of Congress in
reflecting the high level of concern that our families across the
Nation are feeling about the new wave of dastardly things that are
happening to our children, and so we are now in a position well poised
with the President and some of the initiatives to actually adopt
concrete measures dealing with the problem.
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such
time as I may consume.
I just would say in closing that again I want to thank the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Lampson) and the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle)
for their work on this legislation, and the fact that this legislation
is on the floor, I think, is a tribute. I am sure many of us have heard
our parents or grandparents say, out of a dark cloud comes a silver
lining, and that is that some of these parents who have suffered some
of the most horrible things that we could imagine happening to us, our
families, our children, ourselves, have found the energy to carry on in
the name of their children, efforts at the local community level and
now at the national level with the national center. There are so many
local organizations.
I know in my own area in Contra Costa County and Solasta County, we
have had a number of children who have gone missing; not only gone
missing and later found, but clearly children who have gone missing and
were killed and violently assaulted, that local organizations have come
into existence because of the energy of these parents and of the
community to help other parents and families when this happens to them
and in a number of instances have, because of their quick response,
because of their understanding of the nature of this crime and what
needs to be done in the first few hours of the discovery, have
facilitated the rescue of some children. And the national center has
continued that effort and has provided recognition of those local
programs, of those local individuals who really have taken a tragedy
and turned it to positive energy, and have taken the tragic loss and
victimization of a child and used that to save other children and to
prevent other children and families having to go through this.
I would say as part of this resolution to recognize those
individuals, I think almost tragically so, but almost every Member of
Congress has experienced this in their own congressional district where
these individuals have gone on, where we think one would be so
devastated that they would cease to function, they have gone on to
provide an incredible amount of leadership, and fortunately the
national center has recognized these individuals and their efforts.
We had a young girl, Ms. Sanchez, who I had the opportunity to give
an award to because of her courage, who was abducted, kidnapped, taken,
but somehow found it within herself at a given moment when her abductor
happened to look the other way, since he stopped to ask directions from
somebody, she ran from his vehicle and was saved by a passing truck
driver. Her own personal courage has been an example, and she shared
that with other children.
Amber Schwarz, who many years ago disappeared from our community in
Pinole. Her mother has gone on to develop the Amber Foundation, which
has provided assistance to law enforcement, assistance to families and
to communities to cope with these incidents and to bring resources to
try and save and recover these children, and the Amber Alert in
California that was so successful just recently and now many States are
looking at replicating.
We owe a great deal of thanks to those families who have been able to
summon the courage and the wherewithal to share their tragedy with
others to try and avoid that tragedy from happening to other children
and to the families. And again, I thank the gentleman from Delaware
(Mr. Castle) so much for shepherding this resolution to the floor of
the House.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume,
which will not be much.
Let me start by thanking the gentleman from California, whose
interest in children is well-defined and well-known throughout this
body, particularly in that of education; again, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Lampson) for his abiding and continuing concern for the
children of America; for the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas)
for the same, for his abiding and continuing concern for the children
of America, indeed for all the Members of the House and of, I am sure,
the Senate. It is a concern of all of us, and I am delighted this
conference is going to take place.
I think we all realize that the Presidential conference will call
attention to an issue as much as anything that can happen. So I look
forward to that happening tomorrow, and today we look forward to
passing this resolution.
Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this
resolution, which expresses the sense of Congress about the safety of
America's children and points out the need for parents and educators to
teach our children about safety measures they can use to protect
themselves against abduction and exploitation.
During the past spring and summer, the American public has watched in
horror as daily news reports have highlighted numerous stories of
kidnapped children. According to the National Incidence Studies of
Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, there were 203,900
children abducted by family members and 58,200 children abducted by
non-family members in 1999, the most recent year of collected and
analyzed data. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention released part of this study in
August 2002, and the remainder of study will be released in November
this year. Non-family abductions are the smallest category of missing
children, but the one in which the child is at greatest risk of injury
or death.
These statistics highlight the need for communities, schools, and
parents to learn more about the specific steps that can be taken to
facilitate children's safety and teach children the skills and know-how
they need to enable them to stay safe. I commend the Departments of
Justice, Health and Human Services, and Education for their recently
developed booklet, ``Personal Safety for Children,'' which offers tips
to parents for discussing safety and protection measures with their
children. For example, the booklet instructs parents to make a list
with their children of their neighborhood boundaries, choosing
significant landmarks and telling their children whose homes they are
allowed to visit.
I would also like to commend the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children for their fight to prevent child victimization and
their assistance in the recovery of countless missing children.
Furthermore, the President will convene a White House Conference on
[[Page H6837]]
Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children tomorrow, October 2. The
Conference will promote public awareness of the cause of missing,
exploited and runaway children, and it will bring policymakers,
experts, key officials, community leaders, teachers and law enforcement
officials together to share progress made and generate new ideas to
help prevent the victimization of children. In August the President
stated that the ``Personal Safety for Children'' handbook holds
practical advice to help families and communities make their homes,
their schools, and their neighborhoods safer and added that he was
calling on ``all Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies and
our communities and our citizens to work together to do everything in
our power to better protect our children.''
I would also remind my colleagues that the House more than six months
ago overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3839, the
Keeping Children and Families Safe Act, to help ensure that assistance
is provided in the most effective manner for children caught in abusive
situations. That bipartisan bill is the product of efforts by members
on both sides of the aisle to ensure that all children grow up in a
safe and loving environment.
I am pleased that my colleague and friend from Delaware has brought
this issue to the Floor of the U.S. Congress, and I urge my colleagues
to support this resolution.
Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res.
484.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was
agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________