[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 66 (Friday, April 14, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  THE INTRODUCTION OF THE MISSING CHILDREN'S ASSISTANCE AMENDMENT ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 14, 2017

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Missing 
Children's Assistance Amendment Act of 2017, along with Congressional 
Black Caucus Chair Cedric Richmond (D-LA), House Judiciary Committee 
Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), Congressional Caucus on Black Women 
and Girls Co-Chair Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), 
Karen Bass (D-CA), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), 
Joyce Beatty (D-OH), Andre Carson (D-IN), Maxine Waters (D-CA), John 
Lewis (D-GA), Robert Brady (D-PA), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), and Pramila 
Jayapal (D-WA). The bill would require the U.S. Department of Justice's 
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to 
collect and publish broad demographic characteristics, including race, 
gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, of missing 
children.
  Congress has long recognized that missing children are a national 
problem. In 2013, Congress required OJJDP to conduct national incidence 
studies of missing children every three years instead of periodically. 
Such a study is now underway. However, my bill would require OJJDP to 
collect, break down, and publish demographic characteristics, including 
subgroups, of these missing children. It is critical that the public 
know if there is a disproportionate number of missing children of 
color, particularly missing girls of color, which may be an 
underreported national problem. Experts need to first measure the 
incidences, and then study whether children have been trafficked, 
abducted, are running away, or are missing for other reasons, and make 
recommendations.
  The last national comprehensive study of missing children by OJJDP 
was based on a survey conducted in 1999, known as the National 
Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway 
Children (NISMART-2). Currently, OJJDP is conducting a new study, known 
as NISMART-3. However, there is no statutory requirement that the 
triennial study collect or publish demographic characteristics of 
missing children. For instance, while NISMART-2 published race and 
gender data, it did not publish any subgroups, such as the number of 
girls of color missing.
  It is more important than ever to have reliable statistics on missing 
children. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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