THE PROBLEM

The challenges facing young people, instability at home, bullying, anxiety, and isolation, are not new. What has changed is the sheer number of individuals with nefarious intentions who have access to them.

Through the internet, social media, and gaming, predators can reach children instantly, entering the privacy of their bedrooms and steadily distorting their sense of safety, reality, and belonging. These predators are patient and deliberate. They exploit emotional needs, isolate their targets, and guide them toward increasingly dangerous situations, knowing there is an endless supply of vulnerable youth and a system that cannot respond fast enough to stop them.

At the same time, law enforcement is stretched thin. Across California and the nation, agencies face staffing shortages, rising caseloads, and competing priorities, leaving families to confront crises with limited support. The moment a child disconnects from family, supervision, and community, risk escalates. With every hour they remain missing, the likelihood of exploitation, trafficking, and lasting trauma grows.

Helping locate these youth, bringing them to safety, and supporting families in addressing the underlying vulnerabilities is the work Finding Kids was created.

THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM

  • Since many children are never reported missing, there is no reliable way to determine the total number of children who are actually missing in the U.S.
  • Sex traffickers usually do not kidnap children by force. More often, they groom and manipulate children through attention, secrecy, gifts, transportation, drugs, alcohol, food, shelter, threats, or promises of love and belonging.
  • When a child under age 21 is reported missing to law enforcement, federal law requires that case to be reported to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, also known as NCIC. In 2025, NCMEC supported 32,167 missing-child cases. Of those, 29,013 were resolved, while 3,154 remained active.
  • NCMEC reported that 92% of its 2025 missing-child cases involved children who had “run away.” These children face disproportionate risks of exploitation, trafficking, substance exposure, and violence.
  • In 2025, NCMEC received 23,348 reports involving children missing from foster care. Of those children, 17% were identified as likely victims of child sex trafficking.
  • Among likely child sex trafficking victims reported missing to NCMEC in 2025, 84% were ages 15 to 17.
  • Among likely child sex trafficking victims reported missing to NCMEC in 2025, 92% were female and 8% were male, with NCMEC noting that boys remain under-identified.
  • NCMEC reported that 1 in 7 missing children reported to NCMEC in 2025 were likely victims of child sex trafficking.
  • Technology has made child sex trafficking easier to facilitate, conceal, and scale through social media, private messaging, gaming platforms, online ads, and encrypted communication.
  • In 2025, NCMEC’s CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation.
  • In 2025, CyberTipline reports involving online enticement increased 158%, rising from 546,333 reports in 2024 to more than 1.4 million reports in 2025.
  • In 2025, CyberTipline reports involving child sex trafficking increased 323%, rising from 26,823 reports in 2024 to 113,530 reports in 2025.
  • In 2025, NCMEC received more than 182,000 CyberTipline reports involving generative AI child sexual abuse material.
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THE FINDING KIDS SOLUTION

Finding Kids brings missing and exploited children home safely and restores hope to their families. We deploy experienced boots-on-the-ground investigators and retired law enforcement professionals who locate vulnerable children, gather critical evidence, and support law enforcement in holding perpetrators accountable. 

Through comprehensive aftercare services, we provide crisis support to caregivers throughout the investigation, along with ongoing coaching, advocacy, and practical assistance after a child returns home. By addressing trauma, we help ensure children are successfully reintegrated into their homes, schools, and communities. 

We identify and disrupt those who exploit children by supporting law enforcement with actionable information, investigative assistance, and proactive prevention. Through our Decoy Program, we help stop predators before they reach vulnerable youth, strengthening our ability not only to respond to exploitation, but to prevent it.