What does Finding Kids add to a missing child case?

Finding Kids assigns a dedicated private investigator or retired law enforcement professional the moment a case is accepted, adding the digital investigation and field work most departments can’t staff for a case classified as a runaway. Once investigators find the child, local police make the recovery with an evidence package ready for prosecution, and aftercare supports the child and family through healing.

Are you law enforcement?

No. We’re a nonprofit that hires licensed private investigators, many of them retired detectives. We work alongside police, never in their place. Our investigators develop and document leads; the lead agency conducts the recovery and decides whether arrests or charges follow.

In what situations can you help?

We take cases involving youth ages 11 to 17 across 30 counties in Northern California, Central Valley, and Northern Nevada, where the family isn’t currently involved with child protective services. Report to your local police first, then submit your case to us. If your situation falls outside what we handle, we’ll point you to the right place, starting with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

How are you different from NCMEC?

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is the national clearinghouse for missing and exploited children, providing families with critical resources, alerts, and support. Families should contact NCMEC when a child goes missing. Finding Kids provides a different layer of support. Our investigators can work directly on the ground to develop leads and search for an individual missing child, while our Parent Support Advocates help families navigate the process. In many cases, families work with both organizations. Finding Kids can help coordinate that support so families don’t have to navigate it alone.

What happens after a child is found?

Our advocate stays alongside your family through counseling referrals, helping your child return to school, and navigating the practical needs that follow a recovery. We continue checking in for up to two years, because bringing your child home is only the beginning of the healing process. Your family doesn’t have to navigate what comes next alone.

How do I know Finding Kids is legitimate?

We’re a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 81-2874951, governed by a board that includes a district attorney and an assistant district attorney. We’ve worked with more than 80 law enforcement agencies since 2018. Our annual reports and Form 990 filings are posted on this site.

About Us

Let’s Find
Every One.

Our story

How this started

In 2015, our founder was volunteering at a local shelter when she learned about a teenage girl who had been trafficked. The perpetrator was known, but no one was pursuing the case. Instead of walking away, she asked a simple question: What if someone could help? Her actions turned into Special Operations – Finding Kids, incorporated in 2017. In 2018, we hired our first private investigator and took on our first case as a 501(c)(3). Then came seven cases in 2019, and nineteen in 2020 – marking the beginning of a movement to bring missing and exploited children home.

Our Mission

Find missing and exploited youth, help them heal, and make our communities safer.

Our Vision

A world where every child is safe and thriving.

Meet the team

What do we do?

We find rubys
and other kids like her.

Ruby was 11 years old when she went missing. For three days, investigators worked a case that involved online grooming and sexual assault, developing the evidence law enforcement needed. Ruby came home, and the work didn’t stop there: in December 2025, the man responsible was found guilty and sentenced to 75 years to life.

How Finding Kids Works

Find. Care. Target.

Every accepted case gets a licensed private investigator working the search and a Parent Support Advocate standing with the family from day one. Investigators develop the leads law enforcement needs. Advocates help families navigate the waiting, the return, and what comes after.

Find Missing Kids

Licensed private investigators, backed by a cyber intelligence team, are assigned the moment a case is accepted. They develop leads on the street and online and pass them to law enforcement, which conducts the recovery.

Care For Families

Family Support begins the same day a case is accepted. A Parent Support Advocate becomes a consistent point of contact, helping parents understand what is happening, organize information the investigation needs, and prepare for their child’s return and beyond.

Target Predators

When a case surfaces evidence of a crime, investigators document everything and hand law enforcement a complete package that speeds arrest and supports prosecution. Strong evidence can secure a conviction without the child having to testify.

Small Team, Wide Reach

Finding Kids works across 30 counties in Northern California and Northern Nevada, and in 2025 we expanded into Central California. The model is field-based by design: a network of 31 licensed private investigators works cases on the ground and online, 11 Parent and Youth Advocates support families through the search and after, and 32 volunteers carry everything around them, from research to events.

View The Results of our work

Our Network

No one finds a child alone

Nobody finds a child alone. Finding Kids fills a specific role in that network: our investigators work leads, our advocates stay with families, and law enforcement makes the recovery. Care partners help with what comes next, and donors make the work possible.

Donors

Individual givers fund nearly all of this work; in 2025, individual giving made up 92% of funds raised. Donors also host events, sponsor cases, and open their homes for gatherings.

Donate

Community

County Champions, schools, congregations, and local organizations refer cases, teach warning signs, and connect families with our team.

Get Involved

Law Enforcement

We’ve coordinated with more than 80 law enforcement agencies. Officers refer families to us, and our investigators hand documented leads back to them.

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The care network

Trauma therapists, aftercare agencies, school districts, and social services help each family rebuild after a child comes home.

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The problem

Most missing kids aren’t kidnapped

Children go missing from every kind of home, school, and income level. Most are not taken by strangers. They’re lured by someone offering attention, affection, money, or belonging, or they leave to escape conflict they don’t feel able to talk about. Because a kidnapping is rarely involved, law enforcement can face hurdles when allocating time and resources to what is labeled a “runaway” case.

However it happens, a child away from home should never be assumed safe.

The Solution

48 h

Critical
recovery window

50 %

Cases Involving
Exploitation

6000 +

Bay Area Missing
Children Reports

FAQ’s

Common questions

These are the questions we answer most often, from parents, from officers, and from people deciding whether to give. If yours isn't here, email info@findingkids.org.

Father of a 16 year old

“I can't let other families deal with what we've experienced.”

We do not charge families or law enforcement for our services. To make our work possible, we rely on private funders who decide that a missing child is their problem too.

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