§ 5773. Duties and functions of the Administrator

(a) Description of activities

The Administrator shall—

(1) issue such rules as the Administrator considers necessary or appropriate to carry out this subchapter;

(2) make such arrangements as may be necessary and appropriate to facilitate effective coordination among all federally funded programs relating to missing children (including the preparation of an annual comprehensive plan for facilitating such coordination);

(3) provide for the furnishing of information derived from the national toll-free telephone line, established under subsection (b)(1) of this section, to appropriate entities;

(4) provide adequate staff and agency resources which are necessary to properly carry out the responsibilities pursuant to this subchapter; and

(5) not later than 180 days after the end of each fiscal year, submit a report to the President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President pro tempore of the Senate—

(A) containing a comprehensive plan for facilitating cooperation and coordination in the succeeding fiscal year among all agencies and organizations with responsibilities related to missing children;

(B) identifying and summarizing effective models of Federal, State, and local coordination and cooperation in locating and recovering missing children;

(C) identifying and summarizing effective program models that provide treatment, counseling, or other aid to parents of missing children or to children who have been the victims of abduction;

(D) describing how the Administrator satisfied the requirements of paragraph (4) in the preceding fiscal year;

(E) describing in detail the number and types of telephone calls received in the preceding fiscal year over the national toll-free telephone line established under subsection (b)(1)(A) of this section and the number and types of communications referred to the national communications system established under section 5714–11 of this title;

(F) describing in detail the activities in the preceding fiscal year of the national resource center and clearinghouse established under subsection (b)(2) of this section;

(G) describing all the programs for which assistance was provided under section 5775 of this title in the preceding fiscal year;

(H) summarizing the results of all research completed in the preceding year for which assistance was provided at any time under this subchapter; and

(I)

(i) identifying each clearinghouse with respect to which assistance is provided under section 5775 (a)(9) of this title in the preceding fiscal year;

(ii) describing the activities carried out by such clearinghouse in such fiscal year;

(iii) specifying the types and amounts of assistance (other than assistance under section 5775 (a)(9) of this title) received by such clearinghouse in such fiscal year; and

(iv) specifying the number and types of missing children cases handled (and the number of such cases resolved) by such clearinghouse in such fiscal year and summarizing the circumstances of each such cases.^[1]

(b) Annual grant to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

(1) In general

The Administrator shall annually make a grant to the Center, which shall be used to—

(A)

(i) operate a national 24-hour toll-free telephone line by which individuals may report information regarding the location of any missing child, and request information pertaining to procedures necessary to reunite such child with such child’s legal custodian; and

(ii) coordinate the operation of such telephone line with the operation of the national communications system referred to in part C of subchapter III;

(B) operate the official national resource center and information clearinghouse for missing and exploited children;

(C) provide to State and local governments, and public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals, information regarding—

(i) free or low-cost legal, restaurant, lodging, and transportation services that are available for the benefit of missing and exploited children and their families; and

(ii) the existence and nature of programs being carried out by Federal agencies to assist missing and exploited children and their families;

(D) coordinate public and private programs that locate, recover, or reunite missing children with their families;

(E) disseminate, on a national basis, information relating to innovative and model programs, services, and legislation that benefit missing and exploited children;

(F) based solely on reports received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and not involving any data collection by NCMEC other than the receipt of those reports, annually provide to the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention—

(i) the number of children nationwide who are reported to NCMEC as missing;

(ii) the number of children nationwide who are reported to NCMEC as victims of non-family abductions;

(iii) the number of children nationwide who are reported to NCMEC as victims of parental kidnappings; and

(iv) the number of children recovered nationwide whose recovery was reported to NCMEC;

(G) provide, at the request of State and local governments, and public and private nonprofit agencies, guidance on how to facilitate the lawful use of school records and birth certificates to identify and locate missing children;

(H) provide technical assistance and training to law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, elements of the criminal justice system, public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of cases involving missing and exploited children;

(I) provide assistance to families and law enforcement agencies in locating and recovering missing and exploited children, both nationally and, in cooperation with the Department of State, internationally;

(J) provide analytical support and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies through searching public records databases in locating and recovering missing and exploited children and helping to locate and identify abductors;

(K) provide direct on-site technical assistance and consultation to law enforcement agencies in child abduction and exploitation cases;

(L) provide forensic technical assistance and consultation to law enforcement and other agencies in the identification of unidentified deceased children through facial reconstruction of skeletal remains and similar techniques;

(M) track the incidence of attempted child abductions in order to identify links and patterns, and provide such information to law enforcement agencies;

(N) provide training and assistance to law enforcement agencies in identifying and locating non-compliant sex offenders;

(O) facilitate the deployment of the National Emergency Child Locator Center to assist in reuniting missing children with their families during periods of national disasters;

(P) operate a cyber tipline to provide online users and electronic service providers an effective means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in the areas of—

(i) possession, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography;

(ii) online enticement of children for sexual acts;

(iii) child prostitution;

(iv) sex tourism involving children;

(v) extrafamilial child sexual molestation;

(vi) unsolicited obscene material sent to a child;

(vii) misleading domain names; and

(viii) misleading words or digital images on the Internet,

and subsequently to transmit such reports, including relevant images and information, to the appropriate international, Federal, State or local law enforcement agency for investigation;

(Q) work with law enforcement, Internet service providers, electronic payment service providers, and others on methods to reduce the distribution on the Internet of images and videos of sexually exploited children;

(R) operate a child victim identification program in order to assist the efforts of law enforcement agencies in identifying victims of child pornography and other sexual crimes; and

(S) develop and disseminate programs and information to the general public, schools, public officials, youth-serving organizations, and nonprofit organizations, directly or through grants or contracts with public agencies and public and private nonprofit organizations, on—

(i) the prevention of child abduction and sexual exploitation; and

(ii) internet safety.

(2) Authorization of appropriations

There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this subsection, $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2009 through 2013.

The Administrator, either by making grants to or entering into contracts with public agencies or nonprofit private agencies, shall—

(1) periodically conduct national incidence studies to determine for a given year the actual number of children reported missing each year, the number of children who are victims of abduction by strangers, the number of children who are the victims of parental kidnapings, and the number of children who are recovered each year; and

(2) provide to State and local governments, public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals information to facilitate the lawful use of school records and birth certificates to identify and locate missing children.

(d) Independent status of other Federal agencies

Nothing contained in this subchapter shall be construed to grant to the Administrator any law enforcement responsibility or supervisory authority over any other Federal agency.

[1] So in original. Probably should be “case.”

U.S. Code

§ 5773. Duties and functions of the Administrator