View all text of Subchapter IV [§ 11291 - § 11298]
§ 11293. Duties and functions of the Administrator
(a) Description of activitiesThe Administrator shall—
(1) issue such rules as the Administrator considers necessary or appropriate to carry out this subchapter;
(2) make such arrangements as may be necessary and appropriate to facilitate effective coordination among all federally funded programs relating to missing children (including the preparation of an annual comprehensive plan for facilitating such coordination);
(3) provide for the furnishing of information derived from the national toll-free hotline, established under subsection (b)(1), to appropriate entities;
(4) coordinate with the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to ensure that homeless services professionals are aware of educational resources and assistance provided by the Center regarding child sexual exploitation;
(5) provide adequate staff and agency resources which are necessary to properly carry out the responsibilities pursuant to this subchapter; and
(6) not later than 180 days after the end of each fiscal year, submit a report to the President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate—
(A) containing a comprehensive plan for facilitating cooperation and coordination in the succeeding fiscal year among all agencies and organizations with responsibilities related to missing children;
(B) identifying and summarizing effective models of Federal, State, and local coordination and cooperation in locating and recovering missing children;
(C) identifying and summarizing effective program models that provide treatment, counseling, or other aid to parents of missing children or to children who have been the victims of abduction;
(D) describing how the Administrator satisfied the requirements of paragraph (4) in the preceding fiscal year;
(E) describing in detail the number and types of telephone calls received in the preceding fiscal year over the national toll-free hotline established under subsection (b)(1)(A), the number and types of communications referred to the national communications system established under section 11231 of this title, and the number and types of reports to the CyberTipline established under subsection (b)(1)(K)(i);
(F) describing in detail the activities in the preceding fiscal year of the national resource center and clearinghouse established under subsection (b)(2);
(G) describing all the programs for which assistance was provided under section 11294 of this title in the preceding fiscal year;
(H) summarizing the results of all research completed in the preceding year for which assistance was provided at any time under this subchapter; and
(I)
(i) identifying each clearinghouse with respect to which assistance is provided under section 11294(a)(9) of this title in the preceding fiscal year;
(ii) describing the activities carried out by such clearinghouse in such fiscal year;
(iii) specifying the types and amounts of assistance (other than assistance under section 11294(a)(9) of this title) received by such clearinghouse in such fiscal year; and
(iv) specifying the number and types of missing children cases handled (and the number of such cases resolved) by such clearinghouse in such fiscal year and summarizing the circumstances of each such cases.1
1 So in original. Probably should be “case.”
(b) Annual grant to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
(1) In generalThe Administrator shall annually make a grant to the Center, which shall be used to—
(A)
(i) operate a national 24-hour toll-free call center to which individuals may—(I) report child sexual exploitation and the location of any missing child; and(II) request information pertaining to procedures necessary to reunite such child with such child’s parent;
(ii) manage the AMBER Alert Secondary Distribution Program; and
(iii) coordinate the operation of such hotline with the operation of the national communications system referred to in part C of subchapter III;
(B) operate the official national resource center and information clearinghouse for missing and exploited children;
(C) provide to State and local governments, public and private nonprofit agencies, State and local educational agencies, and individuals, information regarding—
(i) free or low-cost legal, food, lodging, and transportation services that are available for the benefit of missing and exploited children and their families;
(ii) the existence and nature of programs being carried out by Federal agencies to assist missing and exploited children and their families; and
(iii) innovative and model programs, services, and legislation that benefit missing and exploited children;
(D) coordinate public and private programs that locate, recover, or reunite missing children with their parents;
(E) provide technical assistance and training to families, law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, elements of the criminal justice system, nongovernmental agencies, local educational agencies, and the general public—
(i) in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of cases involving missing and exploited children;
(ii) to respond to foster children missing from the State child welfare system in coordination with child welfare agencies and courts handling juvenile justice and dependency matters; and
(iii) in the identification, location, and recovery of victims of, and children at risk for, child sex trafficking;
(F) provide assistance to parents, law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, nongovernmental agencies, child-serving professionals, and other individuals involved in the location and recovery of missing and abducted children nationally and, in cooperation with the Department of State, internationally;
(G) provide technical assistance and case-related resources, including—
(i) referrals to—(I) child-serving professionals involved in helping to recover missing and exploited children; and(II) law enforcement officers in their efforts to identify, locate, and recover missing and exploited children; and
(ii) searching public records databases and publicly accessible open source data to—(I) locate and identify potential abductors and offenders involved in attempted or actual abductions; and(II) identify, locate, and recover abducted children;
(H) provide forensic and direct on-site technical assistance and consultation to families, law enforcement agencies, child-serving professionals, and nongovernmental organizations in child abduction and exploitation cases, including facial reconstruction of skeletal remains and similar techniques to assist on long-term missing child cases in the identification of unidentified deceased children;
(I) provide education, technical assistance, and information to—
(i) nongovernmental organizations with respect to procedures and resources to conduct background checks on individuals working with children; and
(ii) law enforcement agencies with respect to identifying and locating noncompliant sex offenders;
(J) facilitate the deployment of the National Emergency Child Locator Center to assist in reuniting missing children with their parents during periods of national disasters;
(K) work with families, law enforcement agencies, electronic service providers, electronic payment service providers, technology companies, nongovernmental organizations, and others on methods to reduce the existence and distribution of online images and videos of sexually exploited children—
(i) by operating a CyberTipline to—(I) provide to individuals and electronic service providers an effective means of reporting internet-related and other instances of child sexual exploitation in the areas of—(aa) possession, manufacture, and distribution of child sexual abuse material;(bb) online enticement of children for sexual acts;(cc) child sex trafficking;(dd) extraterritorial child sexual abuse and exploitation;(ee) child sexual molestation;(ff) unsolicited obscene material sent to a child;(gg) misleading domain names; and(hh) misleading words or digital images on the internet; and(II) make reports received through the CyberTipline available to the appropriate law enforcement agency for its review and potential investigation; and
(ii) by operating a child victim identification program to assist law enforcement agencies in identifying victims of child sexual abuse material and other sexual crimes and to support the recovery of children from sexually exploitative situations, including by providing information on legal remedies available to such victims;
(L) provide support services, consultation, and assistance to missing and sexually exploited children, parents, their families, and child-serving professionals on—
(i) recovery support, including counseling recommendations and community support;
(ii) family and peer support;
(iii) requesting the removal of child sexual abuse material and sexually exploitive span depicting children from the internet, including by assisting with requests to providers (as defined in section 2258E of title 18) to remove visual depictions of victims that—(I) constitute or are associated with child sexual abuse material; or(II) do not constitute child sexual abuse material but are sexually suggestive;
(M) develop and disseminate programs and educational information to families, child-serving professionals, law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, schools, local educational agencies, child-serving organizations, and the general public on—
(i) the prevention of missing children and child sexual exploitation; and
(ii) internet safety, including tips and strategies to promote safety for children using technology (including social media) and reduce risk relating to—(I) cyberbullying;(II) child sex trafficking;(III) youth-produced child sexual abuse material or sexting;(IV) sextortion; and(V) online enticement;
(N) provide technical assistance and training to local educational agencies, schools, State and local law enforcement agencies, individuals, and other nongovernmental organizations that assist with finding missing and abducted children in identifying and recovering such children and preventing child sexual exploitation;
(O) coordinate with and provide technical assistance to Federal, State, and local government agencies relating to cases of children missing from a State or Tribal child welfare system and assist the efforts of law enforcement agencies and State and Tribal child welfare agencies in—
(i) coordinating to ensure the reporting, documentation, and resolution of cases involving children missing from a State or Tribal child welfare system; and
(ii) responding to foster children missing from a State or Tribal child welfare system; and
(P) provide technical assistance and recovery support services to law enforcement agencies and first responders in identifying, locating, and recovering victims of, and children at risk for, child sex trafficking.
(2) Limitation
(A) In general
(B) Definition of compensationFor the purpose of this paragraph, the term “compensation”—
(i) includes salary, bonuses, periodic payments, severance pay, the value of a compensatory or paid leave benefit not excluded by clause (ii), and the fair market value of any employee perquisite or benefit not excluded by clause (ii); and
(ii) excludes any Center expenditure for health, medical, or life insurance, or disability or retirement pay, including pensions benefits.
(c) National incidence studiesThe Administrator, either by making grants to or entering into contracts with public agencies or nonprofit private agencies, shall—
(1) triennially conduct national incidence studies to determine for a given year the actual number of children reported missing each year, the number of children who are victims of abduction by strangers, the number of children who are the victims of parental kidnappings, and the number of children who are recovered each year;
(2) provide to State and local governments, public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals information to facilitate the lawful use of school records and birth certificates, in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. 1232g) 2
2 So in original. Probably should be followed by a comma.
to identify and locate missing children 33 So in original. Probably should be followed by “; and”.
(3) publish an analysis of the information determined under paragraph (1) that includes disaggregated demographic data and comparison of such data to demographic data from the census.
(d) Independent status of other Federal agencies
(Pub. L. 93–415, title IV, § 404, as added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 660, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2126; amended Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, § 7285, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4459; Pub. L. 101–204, title X, § 1004(2), Dec. 7, 1989, 103 Stat. 1828; Pub. L. 106–71, § 2(c), Oct. 12, 1999, 113 Stat. 1034; Pub. L. 107–273, div. C, title II, § 12221(b)(2), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1894; Pub. L. 108–21, title III, §§ 321(b), 323, Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 664, 665; Pub. L. 108–96, title II, § 202(a), Oct. 10, 2003, 117 Stat. 1172; Pub. L. 110–240, § 3, June 3, 2008, 122 Stat. 1561; Pub. L. 113–38, § 2(b), Sept. 30, 2013, 127 Stat. 527; Pub. L. 114–22, title II, § 211, May 29, 2015, 129 Stat. 249; Pub. L. 115–141, div. Q, title II, § 201, Mar. 23, 2018, 132 Stat. 1120; Pub. L. 115–267, § 2(c), Oct. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 3757; Pub. L. 115–393, title II, § 202(c), Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat. 5268; Pub. L. 118–65, § 2(b), June 17, 2024, 138 Stat. 1439.)