I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1808 

To amend and improve the Missing Children’s Assistance Act, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

Mr. GUTHRIE (for himself and Mr. COURTNEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend and improve the Missing Children’s Assistance 

Act, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Support for 

5 Missing and Exploited Children Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Section 402 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 5771) is amended— 

9 (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol10 lows: to read as follows: 

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1 ‘‘(1) each year tens of thousands of children 

2 run away, or are abducted or removed, from the con3 trol of a parent having legal custody without such 

4 parent’s consent, under circumstances which imme5 diately place the child in grave danger;’’, 

6 (2) by striking paragraphs (4) and (5), 

7 (3) in paragraph (6) by inserting ‘‘, including 

8 child sex trafficking and sextortion’’ after ‘‘exploi9 tation’’, 

10 (4) in paragraph (8) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 

11 end, 

12 (5) by striking paragraph (9), 

13 (6) by amending paragraph (10) to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(10) a key component of such programs is the 

16 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(A) serves as a nonprofit, national re19 source center and clearinghouse to provide as20 sistance to victims, families, child-serving pro21 fessionals, and the general public; 

22 ‘‘(B) works with the Department of Jus23 tice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 

24 United States Marshals Service, the Depart25 ment of the Treasury, the Department of State, 

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1 the United States Immigration and Customs 

2 Enforcement, the United States Secret Service, 

3 the United States Postal Inspection Service, 

4 other agencies, and nongovernmental organiza5 tions in the effort to find missing children and 

6 to prevent child victimization; and 

7 ‘‘(C) coordinates with each of the missing 

8 children clearinghouses operated by the 50 

9 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, 

10 and international organizations to transmit im11 ages and information regarding missing and ex12 ploited children to law enforcement, nongovern13 mental organizations, and corporate partners 

14 across the United States and around the world 

15 instantly.’’, and 

16 (7) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), (8), 

17 and (10) as paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (7), re18 spectively. 

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

20 Section 403 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

21 (42 U.S.C. 5772) is amended— 

22 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘legal custodian’’ each 

24 place it appears and inserting ‘‘parent’’, 

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1 (B) in subparagraph (A) by striking 

2 ‘‘custodian’s’’ and inserting ‘‘parent’s’’, and 

3 (C) in subparagraph (C) by striking the 

4 period at the end and inserting a semicolon, 

5 (2) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

6 end and inserting a semicolon, 

7 (3) in paragraph (3) by striking the period at 

8 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and 

9 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(4) the term ‘parent’ includes a legal guardian 

11 or other individual standing in loco parentis (such as 

12 a grandparent or stepparent with whom the child 

13 lives, or an individual who is legally responsible for 

14 the child’s welfare).’’. 

15 SEC. 4. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE ADMINISTRATOR. 

16 Section 404 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

17 (42 U.S.C. 5773(b)) is amended— 

18 (1) in subsection (a)— 

19 (A) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘tele20 phone line’’ and inserting ‘‘hotline’’, and 

21 (B) in paragraph (6)(E)— 

22 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone line’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘hotline’’, 

24 (ii) by striking ‘‘(b)(1)(A) and’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘(b)(1)(A),’’, and 

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1 (iii) by inserting ‘‘, and the number 

2 and types of reports to the tipline estab3 lished under subsection (b)(1)(K)(i)’’ be4 fore the semicolon at the end, and 

5 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

7 (i) by striking ‘‘telephone line’’ each 

8 place it appears and inserting ‘‘hotline’’, 

9 and 

10 (ii) by striking ‘‘legal custodian’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘parent’’, 

12 (B) in subparagraph (C)— 

13 (i) in clause (i)— 

14 (I) by striking ‘‘restaurant’’ and 

15 inserting ‘‘food’’, and 

16 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end, 

17 (ii) in clause (ii) by adding ‘‘and’’ at 

18 the end, and 

19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(iii) innovative and model programs, 

22 services, and legislation that benefit miss23 ing and exploited children;’’, 

24 (C) by striking subparagraphs (E), (F), 

25 and (G), 

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1 (D) by amending subparagraph (H) to 

2 read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(H) provide technical assistance and 

4 training to families, law enforcement agencies, 

5 State and local governments, elements of the 

6 criminal justice system, nongovernmental agen7 cies, local educational agencies, and the general 

8 public— 

9 ‘‘(i) in the prevention, investigation, 

10 prosecution, and treatment of cases involv11 ing missing and exploited children; 

12 ‘‘(ii) to respond to foster children 

13 missing from the State child welfare sys14 tem in coordination with child welfare 

15 agencies and courts handling juvenile jus16 tice and dependency matters; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) in the identification, location, 

18 and recovery of victims of, and children at 

19 risk for, child sex trafficking;’’, 

20 (E) by amending subparagraphs (I), (J), 

21 and (K) to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(I) provide assistance to families, law en23 forcement agencies, State and local govern24 ments, nongovernmental agencies, child-serving 

25 professionals, and other individuals involved in 

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1 the location and recovery of missing and ab2 ducted children, both nationally, and in co3 operation with the Department of State, inter4 nationally; 

5 ‘‘(J) provide support and technical assist6 ance to child-serving professionals involved in 

7 helping to recover missing and exploited chil8 dren by searching public records databases to 

9 help in the identification, location, and recovery 

10 of such children, and help in the location and 

11 identification of potential abductors and offend12 ers; 

13 ‘‘(K) provide forensic and direct on-site 

14 technical assistance and consultation to fami15 lies, law enforcement agencies, child-serving 

16 professionals, and nongovernmental organiza17 tions in child abduction and exploitation cases, 

18 including facial reconstruction of skeletal re19 mains and similar techniques to assist in the 

20 identification of unidentified deceased chil21 dren;’’, 

22 (F) by striking subparagraphs (L) and 

23 (M), 

24 (G) by amending subparagraph (N) to 

25 read as follows: 

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1 ‘‘(N) provide training, technical assistance, 

2 and information to nongovernmental organiza3 tions relating to non-compliant sex offenders 

4 and to law enforcement agencies in identifying 

5 and locating such individuals;’’, 

6 (H) by striking subparagraph (P), 

7 (I) by amending subparagraph (Q) to read 

8 as follows: 

9 ‘‘(Q) work with families, law enforcement 

10 agencies, Internet service providers, electronic 

11 payment service providers, technology compa12 nies, nongovernmental organizations, and others 

13 on methods to reduce the existence and dis14 tribution of online images and videos of sexually 

15 exploited children— 

16 ‘‘(i) by operating a tipline to provide 

17 to individuals and electronic service pro18 viders an effective means of reporting 

19 Internet-related and other instances of 

20 child sexual exploitation in the areas of— 

21 ‘‘(I) possession, manufacture, 

22 and distribution of child pornography; 

23 ‘‘(II) online enticement of chil24 dren for sexual acts; 

25 ‘‘(III) child sex trafficking; 

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1 ‘‘(IV) sex tourism involving chil2 dren; 

3 ‘‘(V) extra familial child sexual 

4 molestation; 

5 ‘‘(VI) unsolicited obscene mate6 rial sent to a child; 

7 ‘‘(VII) misleading domain names; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(VIII) misleading words or dig10 ital images on the Internet, 

11 and subsequently to make such reports 

12 available to the appropriate law enforce13 ment agency for its review and potential 

14 investigation; 

15 ‘‘(ii) by operating a child victim iden16 tification program to assist law enforce17 ment agencies in identifying victims of 

18 child pornography and other sexual crimes 

19 to support the recovery of children from 

20 sexually exploitative situations; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) by utilizing emerging tech22 nologies to provide additional outreach and 

23 educational materials to parents and fami24 lies;’’, 

25 (J) by striking subparagraph (R), 

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1 (K) by amending subparagraphs (S) and 

2 (T) to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(S) develop and disseminate programs 

4 and information to families, child-serving pro5 fessionals, law enforcement agencies, State and 

6 local governments, nongovernmental organiza7 tions, schools, local educational agencies, child8 serving organizations, and the general public 

9 on— 

10 ‘‘(i) the prevention of child abduction 

11 and sexual exploitation; 

12 ‘‘(ii) internet safety, including tips for 

13 social media and cyberbullying; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) sexting and sextortion; and 

15 ‘‘(T) provide technical assistance and 

16 training to local educational agencies, schools, 

17 State and local law enforcement agencies, indi18 viduals, and other nongovernmental organiza19 tions that assist with finding missing and ab20 ducted children in identifying and recovering 

21 such children.’’, and 

22 (L) by redesignating subparagraphs (G), 

23 (H), (I), (J), (K), (O), (Q), (S), and (T) as 

24 subparagraphs (E) through (M), respectively. 

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1 SEC. 5. GRANTS. 

2 Section 405 of the Missing Children’s Assistance Act 

3 (42 U.S.C. 5775) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (7) by striking ‘‘(as de6 fined in section 403(1)(A))’’, and 

7 (B) in paragraph (8)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘legal custodians’’ and 

9 inserting ‘‘parents’’, and 

10 (ii) by striking ‘‘custodians’ ’’ and in11 serting ‘‘parents’ ’’, and 

12 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A) by striking ‘‘legal 

13 custodians’’ and inserting ‘‘parents’’. 

14 SEC. 6. REPORTING. 

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

16 5771 et seq.) is amended— 

17 (1) by redesignating sections 407 and 408 as 

18 sections 408 and 409, respectively, and 

19 (2) by inserting after section 406 the following: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 407. REPORTING. 

21 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED REPORTING.—As a condition of re22 ceiving funds under section 404(b), the grant recipient 

23 shall, based solely on reports received by the grantee and 

24 not involving any data collection by the grantee other than 

25 those reports, annually provide to the Administrator and 

26 make available to the general public, as appropriate— 

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1 ‘‘(1) the number of children nationwide who are 

2 reported to the grantee as missing; 

3 ‘‘(2) the number of children nationwide who are 

4 reported to the grantee as victims of non-family ab5 ductions; 

6 ‘‘(3) the number of children nationwide who are 

7 reported to the grantee as victims of family abduc8 tions; and 

9 ‘‘(4) the number of missing and abducted chil10 dren recovered nationwide whose recovery was re11 ported to the grantee. 

12 ‘‘(b) INCIDENCE OF ATTEMPTED CHILD ABDUC13 TIONS.—As a condition of receiving funds under section 

14 404(b), the grant recipient shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) track the incidence of attempted child ab16 ductions in order to identify links and patterns; 

17 ‘‘(2) provide such information to law enforce18 ment agencies; and 

19 ‘‘(3) make such information available to the 

20 general public, as appropriate.’’. 

Æ 

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