How OJJDP Programs Help Find Missing Children
When a child is missing, time is a critical factor.
The first three hours after a child’s disappearance are crucial for an initial response.
Through AMBER Alerts and the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program, the Office of Justice Programs’ Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides critical resources to support law enforcement promptly collect vital information in cases when a child goes missing.
America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response Alerts – or AMBER Alerts – support coordination between law enforcement, broadcasters and state transportation officials to disseminate information about an abducted child.
In addition to its support for the AMBER Alert system, OJJDP supports a variety of no-cost training and assistance for law enforcement, first responders, investigators and other personnel. One such training opportunity focuses on in-person, hands-on training to equip law enforcement and multidisciplinary partners to build and sustain an effective Child Abduction Response Team, or CART.
CARTs are multi-agency teams made up of community professionals who are trained to respond in the search and recovery of abducted or endangered children.
Like AMBER Alerts, CARTs are a valuable tool that law enforcement agencies use in situations where a child is missing and believed to be in danger. Their goal is to improve recovery outcomes by ensuring a rapid and comprehensive community response to cases involving missing children.
Finding Missing Children
Throughout 2025, CART programs and trainings were credited for preparing law enforcement to quickly recover missing children across the country.
In June 2025, police in Tacoma, Washington activated their child abduction response team following reports that Delilah Everett, a 2‑year‑old girl, had been taken from a local business by an unidentified man driving a silver sedan.
The case prompted a rapid, multi‑agency response and the issuance of an AMBER Alert, with coordinated efforts across local, state, and federal partners.
Within hours of activating the response team, Delilah was located and safely returned to her family.
Delilah’s disappearance occurred roughly two weeks after a child abduction training organized by the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program, which helps prepare officers for cases just like this.
In nearby Kitsap County, Washington, Lieutenant Elizabeth Gundrum of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office also credited CART training with providing critical insights for a 2025 case involving a missing toddler.
“We often joke that after each training we end up immediately responding to that type of call. This training is no different,” Gundrum told the AMBER Advocate. “After your visit we began actively looking for an infant taken by a noncustodial parent with mental health issues. And though we do not have an official CART yet, we are utilizing many of the tips we learned—and now pulling in the same direction together.”
Child Abduction Response Team Trainings
For two decades, OJJDP has supported CART trainings and certification through the AMBER Alert Training & Technical Assistance Program.
In Louisiana, a CART workshop was credited with helping the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office assist with the safe recovery of Christopher Cooper, a 2-year-old boy who was missing in October 2025.
In May 2025, the Louisiana State Police participated in a new Child Abduction Response Team workshop after a specialized CART training session with the agency in February. The training and technical assistance program directly informed the operational framework and strategies utilized by the agency's newly formed Critical Response Emergency Search Team, or CREST.
In the search for Christopher, troopers assigned to CREST were credited with safely recovering the young boy and apprehending the kidnapping suspect without incident.
The History of AMBER Alerts
In 1996, the outcry over the death of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman led to the creation of the AMBER Alert system, which empowers the public to help law enforcement agencies bring missing children home safely.
AMBER Alerts broadcast urgent details of missing children through television, radio, highway signs, and cell phones.
With support from OJJDP, the AMBER Alert system is now being used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is also used in parts of Indian country and in 45 countries internationally.
As of December 18, 2025, 1,292 children have been successfully recovered through the AMBER Alert system since its inception, and 241 children were rescued because of wireless emergency alerts. There are 81 AMBER Alert plans throughout the United States.
National Missing Children's Day
On May 25, OJJDP will commemorate Missing Children's Day by honoring the efforts of the agencies, organizations, and individuals, like those on child abduction response teams, who work to find missing children.
National Missing Children's Day is also a day for parents, guardians, and other trusted caregivers to make child safety and well-being a priority.
It serves as an annual reminder to the nation to continue its efforts to reunite missing children like Delilah Everett and Christopher Cooper with their families.