Finding Missing and Trafficked Children

Each year, more than 20,000 children disappear from state care. In many states, authorities fail to report or search for these children. We press for laws that ensure the system acts with urgency, using every tool available, until every missing child is found and safely returned.

Key Points

The Trafficking Pipeline: Abused children are the primary recruiting ground for sex traffickers. 70% of victims are first exploited while in state care.

Disappearing: An entire city’s worth of children—20,000 every year—vanish from foster care, often with no one searching.

Events & Testimonies

  • Child's face in dramatic lighting, expressing seriousness and vulnerability, symbolizing the need for advocacy against child abuse and the importance of protecting children's rights.

    Testimony: U.S. House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor

    Chairman Aderholt, Ranking Member DeLauro, and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is Brad Galbraith, and I serve as Policy Director at the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, [...]

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Op-Eds

  • Every 12 minutes, a child goes missing. One bill can make all the difference

    At 13, Alicia Kozakiewicz snuck out of her house to meet a “friend” she’d met online. He wasn’t a friend. He abducted her, chained her in a basement, and tortured her. Alicia’s family, neighbors, and the FBI turned the world upside down to find her, and within days, she was pulled out of that basement alive. Anaiah Walker’s story [...]

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  • Close-up of a child's eye, conveying vulnerability and emotion, relevant to discussions on the safety and rights of foster care children.

    Foster care children are easy prey for predators: They disappear without a real search

    Read more here.

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  • Child with blonde hair peering over a gray blanket, conveying vulnerability and the need for protection in the context of child welfare and rights.

    The Guardian: YOUTH PERSPECTIVE – This Should Never Have Happened

    by Brigitte Jolliet My name is Brigitte — I’m a former foster youth from Florida and currently a third-year law student. I wrote this article in response to a memo written by Alan Abramowitz, the Executive Director of Florida’s Guardian ad Litem program. In his memo, Mr. Abramowitz responds to concerns about the state’s GAL [...]

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  • Group of diverse young adults standing together on a winding road at sunset, symbolizing community and support for child welfare advocacy.

    How can social services lose 18,000 children – and not look for them?

    Read more here.

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Research & Reports

  • Young boy in a red polo shirt looking directly at the camera, representing the vulnerable children highlighted in the report on the foster care system crisis.

    New Report Declares Constitutional Crisis in Foster Care System, Demands Urgent Federal Reforms

    In a searing new memo released today, Lives in the Balance: A Bold Plan to Fix America’s Broken Child Protection System, the Center for the Rights of Abused Children lays bare an unflinching truth:

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  • Child sitting on a rock in a natural setting, wearing a purple hoodie and a gray hat, emphasizing themes of safety and care for vulnerable children in foster care.

    Rescuing Missing and Trafficked

    Last year an estimated 20,000 American children went missing from their foster care placements and group homes. Join us on zoom to learn more about the reforms we’ve helped advance [...]

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  • Child looking up with a concerned expression, representing the need for child protection and advocacy in light of recent legal decisions regarding abuse and trafficking.

    Missing Trafficked Toolkit

    We are driven to ensure the safety of the tens of thousands of children who go missing from foster care every year. The Center successfully passed state legislation requiring child [...]

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  • Courtroom scene with a woman speaking to a judge, emphasizing children's right to counsel and legal advocacy in child welfare cases.

    Fact Sheet: Recognizing Abused Children’s Right to Counsel

    The fundamental rights of children are at stake in abuse and neglect court proceedings. Courts have the power to remove children from their homes, determine who they live with, for [...]

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  • Close-up portrait of a young girl with a serious expression, accompanied by text about the crisis of 20,000 children disappearing from foster care each year and efforts to address it.

    Disappearing and Dying

    Why 20,000 kids disappear from foster care every year and how to end this crisis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Anaiah Walker was 15 when she went missing from Arizona’s foster care system [...]

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  • Girl walking away with a backpack, symbolizing the vulnerability of children in foster care and the crisis of missing youth highlighted by the Center for the Rights of Abused Children.

    Center for the Rights of Abused Children (formerly Gen Justice) releases new brief, “Disappearing and Dying”

    Gen Justice released a new brief, 'Disappearing and Dying' about the 20,000 kids who disappear from foster care every year and how to end crisis.

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Resources & Tools

  • Missing Trafficked Toolkit

    We are driven to ensure the safety of the tens of thousands of children who go missing from foster care every year. The Center successfully passed state legislation requiring child welfare agencies to actively and continually search for children missing from their care until they are found. Read more here.

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Podcasts & Audio

Television & Video

Model Reforms

  • Issac’s Law

    The adoption process can be slow, sometimes taking longer than a year. This largely administrative activity swallows precious time that foster children, especially older kids, don’t have to waste. Older kids are among the most difficult to place in a permanent home and face terrible odds without a family. Twenty-five percent of children who “age [...]