110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2517 

AN ACT 

To amend the Missing Children’s Assistance Act to authorize 

appropriations; and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

•HR 2517 EH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Our Chil3 dren Comes First Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Section 402 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 5771) is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 402. FINDINGS. 

8 ‘‘The Congress finds that— 

9 ‘‘(1) each year thousands of children are ab10 ducted or removed from the control of a parent hav11 ing legal custody without such parent’s consent, 

12 under circumstances which immediately place the 

13 child in grave danger; 

14 ‘‘(2) many missing children are at great risk of 

15 both physical harm and sexual exploitation; 

16 ‘‘(3) in many cases, parents and local law en17 forcement officials have neither the resources nor 

18 the expertise to mount expanded search efforts; 

19 ‘‘(4) abducted children are frequently moved 

20 from one locality to another, requiring the coopera21 tion and coordination of local, State, and Federal 

22 law enforcement efforts; 

23 ‘‘(5) growing numbers of children are the vic24 tims of child sexual exploitation, increasingly involv25 ing the use of new technology to access the Internet; 
3 

•HR 2517 EH

1 ‘‘(6) children may be separated from their par2 ents or legal guardians as a result of national disas3 ters such as hurricanes and floods; 

4 ‘‘(7) sex offenders pose a threat to children; 

5 ‘‘(8) the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delin6 quency Prevention administers programs under this 

7 Act through the Child Protection Division, including 

8 programs which prevent or address offenses com9 mitted against vulnerable children and which sup10 port missing children’s organizations; and 

11 ‘‘(9) a key component of such programs is the 

12 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 

13 which— 

14 ‘‘(A) serves as a national resource center 

15 and clearinghouse; 

16 ‘‘(B) works in partnership with the De17 partment of Justice, the Federal Bureau of In18 vestigation, the United States Marshals Service, 

19 the Department of the Treasury, the Depart20 ment of State, the Bureau of Immigration and 

21 Customs Enforcement, the United States Secret 

22 Service, the United States Postal Inspection 

23 Service, and many other agencies in the effort 

24 to find missing children and prevent child vic25 timization; and 
4 

•HR 2517 EH

1 ‘‘(C) operates a national network, linking 

2 the Center online with each of the missing chil3 dren clearinghouses operated by the 50 States, 

4 the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as 

5 well as with international organizations, includ6 ing Scotland Yard in the United Kingdom, the 

7 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, INTERPOL 

8 headquarters in Lyon, France, and others, 

9 which enable the Center to transmit images and 

10 information regarding missing and exploited 

11 children to law enforcement across the United 

12 States and around the world instantly.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATOR. 

14 Section 404(b) of the Missing Children’s Assistance 

15 Act (42 U.S.C. 5773(b)) is amended— 

16 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol17 lows: 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 

19 annually make a grant to the Center, which shall be 

20 used to— 

21 ‘‘(A)(i) operate a national 24-hour toll-free 

22 telephone line by which individuals may report 

23 information regarding the location of any miss24 ing child, and request information pertaining to 
5 

•HR 2517 EH

1 procedures necessary to reunite such child with 

2 such child’s legal custodian; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) coordinate the operation of such tele4 phone line with the operation of the national 

5 communications system referred to in part C of 

6 the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 5714–11); 

8 ‘‘(B) operate the official national resource 

9 center and information clearinghouse for miss10 ing and exploited children; 

11 ‘‘(C) provide to State and local govern12 ments, and public and private nonprofit agen13 cies, and individuals, information regarding— 

14 ‘‘(i) free or low-cost legal, restaurant, 

15 lodging, and transportation services that 

16 are available for the benefit of missing and 

17 exploited children and their families; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the existence and nature of pro19 grams being carried out by Federal agen20 cies to assist missing and exploited chil21 dren and their families; 

22 ‘‘(D) coordinate public and private pro23 grams that locate, recover, or reunite missing 

24 children with their families; 
6 

•HR 2517 EH

1 ‘‘(E) disseminate, on a national basis, in2 formation relating to innovative and model pro3 grams, services, and legislation that benefit 

4 missing and exploited children; 

5 ‘‘(F) based solely on reports received by 

6 the National Center for Missing and Exploited 

7 Children (NCMEC), and not involving any data 

8 collection by NCMEC other than the receipt of 

9 those reports, annually provide to the Depart10 ment of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and 

11 Delinquency Prevention— 

12 ‘‘(i) the number of children nation13 wide who are reported to NCMEC as miss14 ing; 

15 ‘‘(ii) the number of children nation16 wide who are reported to NCMEC as vic17 tims of non-family abductions; 

18 ‘‘(iii) the number of children nation19 wide who are reported to NCMEC as vic20 tims of parental kidnappings; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) the number of children recovered 

22 nationwide whose recovery was reported to 

23 NCMEC; 

24 ‘‘(G) provide, at the request of State and 

25 local governments, and public and private non-
7 

•HR 2517 EH

1 profit agencies, guidance on how to facilitate 

2 the lawful use of school records and birth cer3 tificates to identify and locate missing children; 

4 ‘‘(H) provide technical assistance and 

5 training to law enforcement agencies, State and 

6 local governments, elements of the criminal jus7 tice system, public and private nonprofit agen8 cies, and individuals in the prevention, inves9 tigation, prosecution, and treatment of cases in10 volving missing and exploited children; 

11 ‘‘(I) provide assistance to families and law 

12 enforcement agencies in locating and recovering 

13 missing and exploited children, both nationally 

14 and, in cooperation with the Department of 

15 State, internationally; 

16 ‘‘(J) provide analytical support and tech17 nical assistance to law enforcement agencies 

18 through searching public records databases in 

19 locating and recovering missing and exploited 

20 children and helping to locate and identify ab21 ductors; 

22 ‘‘(K) provide direct on-site technical assist23 ance and consultation to law enforcement agen24 cies in child abduction and exploitation cases; 
8 

•HR 2517 EH

1 ‘‘(L) provide forensic technical assistance 

2 and consultation to law enforcement and other 

3 agencies in the identification of unidentified de4 ceased children through facial reconstruction of 

5 skeletal remains and similar techniques; 

6 ‘‘(M) track the incidence of attempted 

7 child abductions in order to identify links and 

8 patterns, and provide such information to law 

9 enforcement agencies; 

10 ‘‘(N) provide training and assistance to 

11 law enforcement agencies in identifying and lo12 cating non-compliant sex offenders; 

13 ‘‘(O) facilitate the deployment of the Na14 tional Emergency Child Locator Center to as15 sist in reuniting missing children with their 

16 families during periods of national disasters; 

17 ‘‘(P) operate a cyber tipline to provide on18 line users and electronic service providers an ef19 fective means of reporting Internet-related child 

20 sexual exploitation in the areas of— 

21 ‘‘(i) possession, manufacture, and dis22 tribution of child pornography; 

23 ‘‘(ii) online enticement of children for 

24 sexual acts; 

25 ‘‘(iii) child prostitution; 
9 

•HR 2517 EH

1 ‘‘(iv) sex tourism involving children; 

2 ‘‘(v) extrafamilial child sexual moles3 tation; 

4 ‘‘(vi) unsolicited obscene material sent 

5 to a child; 

6 ‘‘(vii) misleading domain names; and 

7 ‘‘(viii) misleading words or digital im8 ages on the Internet, 

9 and subsequently to transmit such reports, in10 cluding relevant images and information, to the 

11 appropriate international, Federal, State or 

12 local law enforcement agency for investigation; 

13 ‘‘(Q) work with law enforcement, Internet 

14 service providers, electronic payment service 

15 providers, and others on methods to reduce the 

16 distribution on the Internet of images and vid17 eos of sexually exploited children; 

18 ‘‘(R) operate a child victim identification 

19 program in order to assist the efforts of law en20 forcement agencies in identifying victims of 

21 child pornography and other sexual crimes; and 

22 ‘‘(S) develop and disseminate programs 

23 and information to the general public, schools, 

24 public officials, youth-serving organizations, and 

25 nonprofit organizations, directly or through 
10 

•HR 2517 EH

1 grants or contracts with public agencies and 

2 public and private nonprofit organizations, on— 

3 ‘‘(i) the prevention of child abduction 

4 and sexual exploitation; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) internet safety.’’; and 

6 (2) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘$20,000,000’’ 

7 and all that follows through ‘‘2008’’, and inserting 

8 ‘‘$40,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as 

9 may be necessary for fiscal years 2009 through 

10 2013’’. 

11 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

12 Section 408(a) of the Missing Children’s Assistance 

13 Act (42 U.S.C. 5777(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘2007 

14 through 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘2008 through 2013’’. 

15 SEC. 5. REPEALER. 

16 The Missing Children’s Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 5771 et seq.) is amended— 

18 (1) by striking section 407; and 

19 (2) by redesignating section 408 as section 407. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 5, 

2007. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2517 

AN ACT 

To amend the Missing Children’s Assistance Act to 

authorize appropriations; and for other purposes.