Overview
Coping with the traumatic experience of having a missing and/or sexually exploited child demands courage and determination for all involved. NCMEC provides a wide range of support services for victims and their families including crisis intervention, emotional support, referrals to appropriate community agencies and mental health professionals, peer connection, and reunification assistance.
Download NCMEC’s Resources for Empowering Families for information on how to seek mental health resources. Available in English and Spanish.
Download NCMEC's Resources for Child Sexual Exploitation Survivors and Their Families PDF in English and Spanish.
Resources
Reconnecting with Your Child: Building Relationships After Suspected Sexual Exploitation
Emotional and Professional Support
NCMEC’s masters-level trained advocates work to strengthen families by offering telephonic support when planning for prevention or managing a crisis. This family-centered approach helps create a collaborative environment to assist victims and families identify areas of need and find the right community-based resources to assist with healing and reconnecting.
FAON
The Family Advocacy Outreach Network (FAON) connects victims and families with mental health service providers and other organizations within their communities. FAON seeks the expertise of experienced treatment professionals who are willing to provide therapeutic services pro bono or at a low sliding-scale fee to the families of missing and/or sexually exploited children when insurance cannot cover the family’s needs. For professionals seeking more information about the requirements of becoming a participant in this voluntary network, you may learn more here.
“What has been incredibly important as a provider and part of the Family Advocacy Outreach Network is the ongoing training NCMEC provides me. Their materials are so valuable and unique. It’s helped a great deal because what I’m really doing is crisis intervention. That training has proven invaluable as new cases come into my school and practice. The training that NCMEC offers is first class quality training that no one else offers. It’s such a specialty, this training is not available anywhere else. It’s such an eye opener into another world that no one really likes to talk about.”
– FAON provider
Reunification Assistance
NCMEC is available to help families prepare for their child’s needs when children initially reunite with their families or months later. Families in financial need may qualify for transportation at low or no cost to them once their children are recovered.
NCMEC’s Team HOPE is a network of volunteers who have personally experienced the trauma of having a missing or sexually exploited child. With this firsthand knowledge of the multitude of emotions family members face, these volunteers provide peer support to families of missing, recovered, or sexually exploited children.
NCMEC helps families navigate the legal system and may be able to provide referrals to experienced attorneys. NCMEC also provides legal technical assistance to families, attorneys, legislators and others, including case specific legal, educational, technical, and related research and analysis, as well as publications, amicus briefs, and other trial related materials.
More
WATCH: Team HOPE is a group of ordinary people who one day were forced to live every parent’s nightmare. They know the pain, fear, frustration and loneliness that comes with having a missing or sexually exploited child. With this knowledge and experience, they offer peer support to families of missing and sexually exploited children.