[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 7, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1434-S1435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO JOHN RABUN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I would like to pay tribute today to 
a friend of many decades, a Kentuckian who is a hero to many and a 
personal hero of mine for his work on behalf of children that has had a 
national impact. In his 28 years of service with the National Center 
for Missing and Exploited Children, John Rabun has saved literally 
thousands of lives and averted tragedy for thousands of families.
  As the very first employee of the national center since its creation 
back in 1984, he has been the heart and the soul of that organization. 
His dedication and passion for the issue will continue to shape the 
national center long after he leaves it. Frankly, for John, saving 
children was not just a job, it was his mission. That is why it is such 
a blow that after 28 years of service, John Rabun will retire from his 
work at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children this 
Friday, March 9. I cannot say enough how much this man will be missed.
  John and I have a history that stretches back almost four decades, 
dating to his time as a social worker in Jefferson County, KY. Of 
course, Jefferson County contains the city of Louisville, my hometown, 
and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I served as the judge-executive 
for Jefferson County. What that is, I say to the Presiding Officer from 
New York, is like the county executive for the county. It was in this 
capacity that I got to know John Rabun.
  John earned his bachelor's degree from Mercer University in Macon, 
GA, and his master of science in social work from the University of 
Louisville. As a social worker, John managed the company's group home 
for kids and was one of the first in town to identify

[[Page S1435]]

the growing crisis of child abduction and sexual exploitation. Working 
in those foster homes, John saw the problem firsthand and saw what 
local police and social services were not seeing. He saw that 
information between social service workers and law enforcement was not 
being shared as it should have been. He realized a lot more could be 
done.

  So John, along with a friend and fellow social worker, Kerry Rice, 
approached Ernie Allen, who at the time was the director of the 
Louisville-Jefferson County Crime Commission. Ernie is now known as the 
director and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited 
Children, which he helped build alongside John. But way back then, the 
issue of missing and exploited children had yet to receive the national 
focus it deserved.
  It was John who proposed to Ernie that the county create a special 
unit bridging the traditional barriers between social services and law 
enforcement to try to combat this serious problem. They came to me--as 
the CEO of the county--with this idea, and together we created what I 
believe to be the first police-social services team in the Nation 
dedicated to working child abduction and sexual exploitation cases. 
Eventually, we created Jefferson County's first exploited and missing 
child unit, with John as its manager. Under John's leadership, almost 
immediately the unit began to solve cases, rescue victims, and put some 
very good news on the front pages.
  John became famous nationwide as a leading expert on missing and 
exploited child cases. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Justice asked me 
to send John and Ernie to Atlanta to consult on a grisly child murder 
case. John is now so recognized as a leader in this field that he has 
provided expert testimony to Congress seven times on child abduction 
cases and has instructed for the FBI Law Enforcement Satellite Training 
Network. John has provided consultation at nearly 1,000 hospitals and 
for over 62,000 personnel in America, Canada, and the United Kingdom on 
the abduction of newborns in hospitals. He is the author of the book 
``For Healthcare Professionals: Guidelines on Prevention of and 
Response to Infant Abductions.'' Thanks in large measure to his 
efforts, what was once a recurring problem is now all but eliminated.
  John has been recognized by the FBI as 1 of only 27 investigators 
nationwide with the highest expertise in the investigation of cases 
concerning missing and exploited children. He has appeared on 
television shows such as ``20/20,'' ``Primetime,'' ``Good Morning 
America,'' ``Larry King Live,'' and, of course, ``America's Most 
Wanted'' with his friend and my friend, John Walsh.
  In 1984, John signed the lease for office space for the National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children right here in Washington. He 
began working as that organization's executive vice president and chief 
operating officer. It is a post he has held ever since. As the National 
Center's executive vice president and COO, John manages a staff of 350 
and a budget of $42 million a year. He is the hub of the wheel for all 
interagency communication between the center, the Justice Department, 
the State Department, the Secret Service, the FBI, the Department of 
Homeland Security, as well as State governments.
  When I say John Rabun has a great passion and drive on this issue 
that has animated his entire career, I mean it. He is absolutely 
dedicated to rescuing children who would otherwise fall through the 
cracks.
  Back when he was running the Jefferson County Crime Unit, John led 
the effort to successfully identify and prosecute the pastor of a major 
local church for sexually abusing over one dozen children in his 
congregation. After this pastor's conviction, the judge shockingly 
sentenced him merely to probation with a community service requirement. 
John leapt from the prosecutor's table and cried: ``Your Honor, will 
you at least stipulate that this community service not be with 
children?'' The judge held John in contempt of court. Luckily, the 
prosecutor quickly scurried John out through a side door before he 
could be taken into custody and after a few days the heat died down. 
But this story goes to illustrate how John will stop at literally 
nothing to see justice is done for those who are weakest among us, our 
children.
  John's lifetime of service to children has directly led to the rescue 
of over 80,000 kids. Let me share with my colleagues just one success 
story. About 1 year ago, a Los Angeles police detective contacted the 
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for information on a 
10-year-old boy who had been missing for many years. In 2004, the 
child's parents separated, and although the mother received custody, 
her son was abducted from their home. A search began for the boy and 
his father, which continued for 7 years. Law enforcement had no leads 
on the child's whereabouts, suspecting the father may have abducted him 
back to his native country of Guatemala. Upon receiving the call from 
that Los Angeles detective, the National Center's case management team 
began coordinating the center's resources with the child's mother and 
detectives in the Los Angeles Police Department. A missing child poster 
was created and disseminated around California, and detectives were 
provided with detailed public database searches throughout the National 
Center's case analysis division.
  Just a little over 1 month ago, the center received a lead from a 
school official who believed he had recognized the boy as a fifth 
grader at a Los Angeles elementary school. This official had searched 
the center's Web site, saw the missing child's poster, and contacted 
the center's 24-hour hot line. The center passed this lead along to 
police, and I am pleased to say that on January 31 of this year, 8 
years after his abduction, this boy was reunited with his mother, and 
his father was arrested.
  Imagine that mother's relief and then multiply that feeling by 
literally thousands. Only then can we begin to appreciate the immense 
service John Rabun has done for his country. So that is why we are all 
going to miss John so much. No one can say he could have done more; 
however, neither could anyone say his retirement is not extremely well 
deserved. I am sure he is looking forward to being able to spend more 
time with his lovely wife Betsy, a retired schoolteacher, and their two 
children and five grandchildren.
  A national movement on behalf of America's most precious resource, 
our children, was launched because one social worker in Louisville, KY, 
saw that too many children were at risk and not enough was being done. 
If every family impacted by the National Center for Missing and 
Exploited Children's work could thank John Rabun personally, it might 
take another 28 years, and he would never get to retire. But on behalf 
of a grateful and safer America, I hope the recognition of this Senate 
and the thanks and friendship of this Senator will suffice instead. So 
thank you very much, John Rabun.
  I yield the floor.

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