I am proud to join with my colleagues as a member of a caucus I wish it was not necessary to form. I commend my colleague, Representative Nick Lampson, for leading this Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.
Much of the world is familiar with the tragic story of 12-year old Polly Klaas, kidnapped from her bedroom slumber party four years ago in Petaluma, California and murdered soon after. Polly's abduction shone the national spotlight on the plight of missing children. We cannot wait for another tragedy like hers to take action to prevent the abduction and exploitation of our children.
In 1995, 969,264 people in the United States were reported missing to the police. The FBI estimates that up to 90% of these are children.
In 1984, ten year old Kevin Collins walked out the door of his San Francisco home to play basketball. He has never returned. It has been almost ten years since the parents of Michaela Garecht and Amber Swartz have seen their daughters, both of whom were abducted in separate incidents in the Bay Area in 1988.
Twelve years ago, there was no national response to the problem of missing and exploited children. But in recent years, community, government and law enforcement response to the tragedy of missing and exploited children has been aggressive and shown great progress. New computer technology makes it possible for information on missing children to be distributed quickly throughout the country. Forty-eight states have created missing children clearinghouses since 1984. The passage of Megan's Law will help protect communities from convicted sex offenders who still pose a risk.
But there is so much more to be done. We as legislators must work together with parents, organizations and state and local governments to increase safety education and law enforcement response so that we can prevent stranger abduction, child sexual exploitation, family abduction, runaway and lost youth.
Our greatest priority is to care for our nation's children and ensure their safety. I join with my colleagues in this strong commitment to find abducted children and prevent the future abduction and exploitation of our nation's most precious resource - our children.
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