National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
2025
IMPACT
REPORT
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is the largest and most influential child protection organization in the country.
As a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, we work with families, victims, law enforcement, child welfare, private industry and the public to provide free services to help find missing children, stop child sexual exploitation and prevent child victimization.
This data serves as a record and a reminder of why NCMEC is more relevant than ever, and that this work cannot stop.
FINDING MISSING CHILDREN
When a child goes missing, every hour matters. NCMEC exists so that families, law enforcement and child welfare professionals never have to navigate that crisis without expert support. Since 1984, we have assisted with the recovery of more than 480,000 cases of missing children.
The 90% overall recovery rate reflects what is possible through law enforcement collaboration and dedicated resources converging around a child in danger. The 3,154 cases still active are the reason the work does not stop.
Incidents involving children who have run away account for the overwhelming majority of cases
of the total
These are children who face disproportionate risks of exploitation, trafficking, substance exposure and violence. This is why NCMEC treats each of these cases as involving a child in danger.
Reports by Type
Reports of missing children to NCMEC between 1/1/2025 and 12/31/2025
The data in this section includes all missing cases reported to us, including missing young adults, ages 18-20.
Missing Children by State
Missing children reported to NCMEC in 2025 came from all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. Texas saw the largest single-year volume increase, driven by new state legislation around reporting requirements.
Missing State and Case Status
| col | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| col | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: NCMEC 2025 Impact Data. Guam (GU) reported 0 cases.
EMERGING TREND | Texas Reporting Legislation Increases Reporting of Missing Children
New state legislation in 2025 requires that every missing child reported to Texas law enforcement must also be reported to NCMEC within two hours of receipt.
This mandate significantly increased the volume of reports NCMEC received this year. The increase is not a sign that more children are going missing, but a reflection that more cases are being reported to NCMEC.
Missing Children by Age & Race/Ethnicity
22,498
ages 15 to 17
7,270
ages 12 to 14
Table: Missing children reported to NCMEC between 1/1/2025 and 12/31/2025
Organized by Child's Age Group and Race/Ethnicity
| col | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| col | |||||||||
| TOTAL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
CASE SPOTLIGHT | Aziz Khan: Found Safe After 7 Years
Aziz Khan was 7 years old when his non-custodial mother abducted him from Atlanta in 2017 and disappeared with him.
For more than seven years, NCMEC searched for Aziz alongside law enforcement, knowing that in family abduction cases, national attention often makes the difference. In February 2025, deputies responding to a burglary call at a vacant home in Colorado found Aziz, now 14, safe. His mother and her husband were arrested on felony kidnapping charges.
Children Missing from Foster Care
Children who run from foster care or other state custody face some of the most acute risks of any missing child population. They are already vulnerable and when they go missing that risk increases.
Of the children missing from care who were reported to NCMEC in 2025, 17% were identified as likely victims of child sex trafficking. Children who run from the foster system are precisely the population that traffickers target and exploit: young, isolated people in need of basics like shelter, food and belonging.
AMBER Alerts
Fast action is critical in a missing child case. The AMBER Alert system is activated by law enforcement in the most serious abduction cases when they believe they have information that could help the public in the search for the child. Once an alert is issued, NCMEC is responsible for redistributing the alerts to a network of secondary distributors. The moment law enforcement issues an alert, NCMEC redistributes it to the areas designated by law enforcement through that network, helping the alert reach phones, billboards and other locations where it can be seen by the people most likely to encounter the abducted child.
CASE SPOTLIGHT | Tamara Asher: AMBER Alert Recovery, NCMEC Board Member
At 16, Tamara Asher was abducted at gunpoint and held for nearly 24 hours.
A driver spotted the SUV she was abducted in after seeing the AMBER Alert on a highway sign, and law enforcement was able to reach her in time. Tamara now serves on NCMEC's board of directors. In her own words: "I wouldn't be here today. And so many other children have been saved because of your efforts, because of your willingness to be in those call centers, to be in those partnerships."
Team Adam
NCMEC's Team Adam program is a network of retired law enforcement professionals who provide support and, in some cases, deploy in response to critical missing child cases. Team Adam brings investigative experience, NCMEC's analytical resources and an understanding of what families in crisis need. For long-term cases that have gone cold, Team Adam provides a fresh set of expert eyes.
cases supported in 2025
Including 21 critical missing child cases & 275 long-term missing child cases
Age Progressions, Facial Reconstructions & Identifications
When a child has been missing for more than two years, a photograph may no longer reflect their current appearance. Because of this, NCMEC's forensic artists produce age-progression images that give the public a more accurate picture of what a missing child might look like today. In cases of unknown deceased children, NCMEC's forensic artists will create facial reconstructions to produce an image of what that child looked like to help identify them. NCMEC also facilitates the application of forensic genealogy and DNA analysis to cases that have gone cold for years, or even decades.
These tools reflect NCMEC's commitment to supporting unresolved cases, no matter how long it takes.
Every image updated, every face reconstructed and every DNA match pursued is a declaration that the children have not been forgotten.
The tools we use to find them are only getting better.
CASE SPOTLIGHT | Rea Rassmussen: A 25-Year Mystery Solved
For 25 years, a deceased little girl found in a barrel near Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire had no name.
NCMEC had supported investigators since 2008 by providing facial reconstructions, DNA analysis and national outreach that kept the search alive through decades of cold case work. In September 2025, the New Hampshire Department of Justice announced she had finally been identified as Rea Rassmussen.
Operational Support
NCMEC provides direct analytical support to law enforcement operations assisting with the recovery of missing children and victims of child sex trafficking. This is the work that happens to support law enforcement investigations, including data analysis, lead development and identifying connections between cases that a single agency working alone might not be able to make.
36
law enforcement operations supported by NCMEC in 2025
Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation
Child sexual exploitation is not a problem that only happens to vulnerable children in isolated places without anyone watching. It has become a crisis on a massive scale, enabled and accelerated by technology. NCMEC sees the big picture of online child sexual exploitation across the reporting system, data analytics, law enforcement partnerships and policy discussions that together constitute a national response.
CyberTipline
NCMEC's CyberTipline is the nation's designated reporting system for suspected child sexual exploitation. Electronic service providers are required by law to report suspected child sexual abuse material (CSAM), online enticement and child sex trafficking to NCMEC. Members of the public can also report directly. NCMEC makes reports available to domestic and international law enforcement agencies, adding valuable information where possible.
This report contains some data from the CyberTipline, but you can visit ncmec.org/cybertiplinedata for deeper insights.
NCMEC makes CyberTipline reports and any additional information available to law enforcement while also monitoring the reports to better understand the ways that children may be vulnerable, and the trends NCMEC is tracking are moving fast.
EMERGING TREND | Online Enticement: 158% Increase in Reports in 2025
Reports regarding online enticement — where an offender uses the internet to solicit or coerce a child for sexual purposes — increased 158% in 2025, going from 546,333 reports in 2024 to more than 1.4 million in 2025.
Financial sextortion was one of the contributors to this increase along with the passage of the REPORT Act in 2024, which requires electronic service providers to report online enticement and child sex trafficking in the same way they report CSAM. NCMEC is monitoring this increase, equipping platforms with resources to detect and report this crime when it happens, and advocating for policies and new laws needed to respond to the scale of this problem.
EMERGING TREND | Generative AI: 182,000+ reports related to GAI CSAM in 2025
AI is playing an increasing role in the sexual exploitation of children. For example, in 2025 alone, more than 182,000 reports involved people attempting to use AI to create CSAM or possessing AI-generated CSAM.
This is one of the emerging threats against child safety that did not meaningfully exist five years ago. NCMEC is working with technology partners, law enforcement and policymakers to shape the national response. The CyberTipline is the infrastructure that makes that response possible.
The CyberTipline Received
total files included in reports of suspected child sexual exploitation
Types of Cases Reported to the CyberTipline in 2025
Reports of suspected child sexual exploitation made to NCMEC's CyberTipline between 1/1/2025 and 12/31/2025
| Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) |
19.5M
|
| Online Enticement |
1.4M
|
| Unsolicited Obscene Material |
253,800+
|
| Child Sex Trafficking |
113,500+
|
| Child Sexual Molestation |
29,900+
|
| Misleading Words / Digital Images |
12,800+
|
| Misleading Domain Name |
12,100+
|
| Extraterritorial Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation |
900+
|
NCMEC's Take It Down program is a free service that helps minors remove nude, partially nude or sexually explicit images and videos of themselves that have been shared online.
The website works by generating a unique hash value for each image or video, which becomes a digital fingerprint that can be used by participating online platforms to remove the content and prevent it from circulating. Take It Down is available in 36 languages, which means it can serve young people in communities that English-language resources have historically not reached.
Each submission represents a young person who is facing the trauma of having explicit content shared online. Take It Down helps children regain control in what often feels like an uncontrollable situation.
Each submission represents a young person who knew the tool existed, found it, and chose to use it. That act of agency — a vulnerable child deciding to fight back — is itself something to celebrate.
CASE SPOTLIGHT | Tamia Woods & James: Financial Sextortion
17-year-old James was financially sextorted over the course of 19½ hours before he took his own life.
His mother, Tamia Woods, testified about his death before the Senate Judiciary Committee in December 2025. Now, working as a NCMEC Lived Experience Consultant, she is helping to raise awareness about this devastating crime perpetrated against James and helping hone NCMEC's prevention education messages. NCMEC's CyberTipline is the reporting infrastructure that enabled analysts to identify financial sextortion as an emerging crisis, and that continues to generate the data driving legislative and law enforcement response.
Child Victim Identification
When law enforcement seizes a device or receives a tip involving suspected child sexual abuse material, they frequently do not know who the child victim is. NCMEC's analysts help answer these questions. Analysts piece together identifying details from imagery — a background object, a brand label, a sliver of architecture — and share findings with investigators to help find the child, stop the abuse and hold offenders accountable. NCMEC is uniquely positioned to provide this crucial support.
NCMEC collaborates directly with federal, state, local, military and international law enforcement agencies to support child victim identification.
| AGENCY | REQUESTS | IMAGES | VIDEOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Federal Law Enforcement | 2,901 | 17,829,552 | 1,521,316 |
| Local / State / ICAC | 3,107 | 7,337,550 | 595,354 |
| Military | 216 | 401,632 | 96,845 |
| International | 12 | 47 | 4 |
| Total | 6,236 | 25,568,781 | 2,213,519 |
Of the more than 35,620 child victims identified by law enforcement to date, 3,591 are depicted in actively traded imagery — meaning their abuse is still in circulation.
| GENDER | INFANT/TODDLER | PREPUBESCENT | PUBESCENT | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | 110 | 733 | 515 | 1,358 |
| Female | 179 | 1,282 | 772 | 2,233 |
| Total | 289 | 2,015 | 1,287 | 3,591 |
Relationship of Offender to Child in Actively Traded Images and Videos
*Values reported are rounded to the nearest percentage and may not equal 100.
The data on the relationship between offenders and victims in actively traded imagery challenges a persistent misconception that child sexual abuse is primarily committed by strangers.
The majority of children depicted in sexually abusive imagery actively circulating online were abused by someone they knew, such as a parent, a relative, a neighbor, a family friend or a coach.
This means that impactful prevention must focus on building environments where abuse is harder to hide and easier to report, whether the child knows the offender or not.
Child Sex Trafficking
Child sex trafficking is not a problem confined to specific communities, regions or demographics. In 2025, NCMEC received reports from all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and from communities that are rural, suburban, urban and tribal. Traffickers and buyers specifically target children who are vulnerable, including children who have run away, who need love, shelter and stability, but instead find someone who offers those things as a prelude to exploitation.
NCMEC offers analytical support to law enforcement investigating these cases and resources for child welfare professionals to help build a plan for when the child returns. Ensuring victims of child sex trafficking are located quickly and that their recovery includes a trauma-informed response is crucial to helping these children.
1 in 7
missing children reported to NCMEC were likely sex trafficking victims
From more than 32,000 cases in 2025
4,215
instances of support for children missing from child welfare who are likely victims of sex trafficking
Trauma-informed, victim-centered response plans
The connection between missing children and trafficking is undeniable. When a child disappears from foster care or runs away from home, the danger begins immediately and only compounds over time. Knowing what vulnerabilities to exploit allows traffickers to target these children at a rate that outpaces law enforcement resources to respond. NCMEC's dual role in responding to both missing and trafficked children recognizes that these two events are part of the same crisis, and acts as a resource multiplier, prioritizing this issue on a national level.
EMERGING TREND | Child Sex Trafficking: 323% Increase in Reports to the CyberTipline
In 2025, child sex trafficking reports to NCMEC's CyberTipline increased 323%, going from 26,823 in 2024 to 113,530 in 2025.
This increase reflects multiple factors, including the passage of the REPORT Act in 2024, which now requires electronic service providers to report online enticement and child sex trafficking in the same way they report CSAM; expanded platform compliance; and the growth of trafficking online. This is a number that demands attention from policymakers, platforms and communities.
CASE SPOTLIGHT | A 14-Year-Old in Florida: Spotlight AI
A 14-year-old girl had been missing from foster care for more than two years, with few leads on her whereabouts.
NCMEC analysts used Spotlight, an AI tool that matches missing children data against online escort ads, and found a possible match. NCMEC contacted law enforcement, and Miami-Dade Police located the child and arrested her 23-year-old trafficker.
Demographics of Child Sex Trafficking Victims Reported to NCMEC in 2025
of likely child sex trafficking victims reported missing to NCMEC are ages 15 to 17
CST Victims by Age at Time Missing and Sex
92% Female
of likely child sex trafficking victims in 2025
8% Male
a reminder that traffickers and buyers target boys, a population that remains under identified
CST Victims by Race/Ethnicity at Time Missing and Sex
| RACE/ETHNICITY | FEMALE | MALE | UNKNOWN | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 14 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Black | 1,570 | 86 | 0 | 1,656 |
| Hispanic | 589 | 60 | 0 | 649 |
| Multiracial | 617 | 75 | 1 | 693 |
| Native American | 82 | 1 | 0 | 83 |
| Pacific Islander | 13 | 20 | 0 | 33 |
| Unknown | 60 | 5 | 0 | 65 |
| White | 1,137 | 94 | 1 | 1,232 |
| Total | 4,082 | 342 | 2 | 4,426 |
Sex Offender Tracking
A noncompliant sex offender is someone who has been convicted of a qualifying sex offense, but who has not complied with the requirements to register. Registration includes providing identifiers such as their name, address and employment information to law enforcement and keeping that information current. When a registered sex offender fails to do this, NCMEC supports law enforcement's efforts to locate these individuals through analysis that creates new connections and location leads.
42,608
law enforcement requests to locate noncompliant sex offenders in 2025
2,903
noncompliant sex offenders who were included in requests were located by law enforcement
16
local, state & national operations supported in 2025
Each arrest is an offender who is no longer in proximity to children while evading accountability. This is the practical work of ensuring that legal obligations to protect children are enforced.
Mental Health & Peer Support
The families who contact NCMEC are experiencing trauma, uncertainty about whether their loved one is safe, when they'll receive more information and when they'll reunite with their child. For the missing or exploited child, their experience is something that most people around them cannot understand.
NCMEC works to ensure that no one is left on their own in these moments.
Mental Health Services
NCMEC's child and family advocates are master's-level trained and provide direct support and guidance to families throughout their crisis. For families who need ongoing mental health services, NCMEC's Family Advocacy Outreach Network (FAON) provides a vetted network of licensed mental health professionals who provide services free of charge or on a sliding scale.
727
mental health referrals in missing child cases in 2025
Families searching for a child
960
referrals for mental health support in exploited child cases in 2025
Children & families impacted by sexual exploitation
274
FAON member providers in 2025
Free or sliding-scale mental health services in local communities
Team HOPE
Healing often requires connecting with another person who has survived a similar experience. Team HOPE is NCMEC's network of trained volunteers who are themselves family members of missing or exploited children, or adult survivors who were missing or exploited as children. They provide peer support and the comfort of someone who can genuinely understand what has happened.
2,564
peer support referrals in missing child cases in 2025
65
peer support referrals in exploited child cases in 2025
CASE SPOTLIGHT | Colleen Nick: Team HOPE Co-Founder
Colleen Nick's 6-year-old daughter Morgan disappeared while catching fireflies at a baseball game in Alma, Arkansas in 1995, and has never been found.
Following the abduction of her daughter, Colleen Nick became an advocate for other searching families and together with Patty Wetterling, mother of missing child Jacob Wetterling, she started NCMEC's Team HOPE.
Lived Experience Consultants
Family members and adult survivors of missing and exploited child cases serve an instrumental role in helping NCMEC develop the resources, tools and programs we create. NCMEC's network of lived experience consultants brings firsthand knowledge to program design, policy advocacy and professional training.
43
lived experience consultants in 2025
Survivors & family members shaping our work
38
NCMEC projects and events informed by their expertise in 2025
Program design, policy, training & advocacy
Prevention Resources
Prevention enables someone to have access to the right resource at the right time, to keep a child safe from harm. Its value is incalculable and crucial. This is why NCMEC continually builds, updates and makes globally available a wealth of prevention resources, all at no cost.
Program Spotlight | Generative AI Safety Education
This year, NCMEC's flagship online safety program, Into the Cloud, launched a new episode that specifically addresses the misuse of generative AI.
The video teaches kids language and tools to respond to the new threats that have recently emerged from this advance in technology.
Education & Training
NetSmartz and KidSmartz are NCMEC's free, age-appropriate educational resources for children, caregivers and child-serving professionals. These are videos, presentations, tip sheets and interactive tools that address the specific risks children face in real-world and online communities, updated constantly to reflect emerging trends.
19,342
parents & caregivers
Reached through partner-delivered safety lessons in 2025
70,396
children
Reached directly through those same partner lessons in 2025
Those numbers reflect the reach of NCMEC's partner network, including organizations that deliver safety education in communities across the country. But the reach of the resources themselves goes much further. In 2025, NCMEC's safety materials were downloaded and viewed across 148 countries, reaching educators, parents and child welfare professionals.
93,249
resource downloads in 2025
Across all 50 states & 148 countries
1.2M
safety video views in 2025
Free, always available & updated for today's threats
Professional Training
Professionals that interact with children on a daily basis are the frontline of child protection. NCMEC delivers training for teachers, law enforcement, social workers, healthcare providers and other child-serving roles, which helps them develop abilities to recognize, respond to and report what they may encounter in their work.
instances
of training delivered to child-serving professionals in 2025. Every trained professional carries that knowledge for the rest of their career.
Connect
NCMEC Connect is our free, on-demand training hub, which provides child-serving professionals access to NCMEC's courses, resources and best practices whenever they need them. In 2025, the platform added 8,474 new registered users, bringing total membership to 36,017 professionals.
Missing Kids
Readiness Program
MKRP provides law enforcement and public safety agencies with NCMEC's best practices for responding to incidents of missing and exploited children. Officers and first responders complete a series of training courses and participate in a full policy review that equips them to effectively act when a child is exploited or goes missing.
active MKRP member agencies in 2025
Digital Reach
NCMEC's digital presence is one of the most direct lines between the organization and the people it serves. The website is where families in crisis find the call center, where law enforcement professionals access tools, where teens discover Take It Down and where donors learn what their support makes possible. Social media extends that reach by raising awareness, sharing missing children posts and meeting people in the spaces where they already spend time. NCMEC is active on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube.
16.5M
visitors to NCMEC.org
in 2025
36.6M page views
376M
social media impressions
21.3M engagements
34M
total video views
across all social platforms
A note from NCMEC
At NCMEC,
HOPE
is a strategy, and we see its power every day.
The world children are growing up in has never been more complex, and threats are evolving fast. Yet, we are more energized than we've ever been.
Coordinated, expert, relentless response and a committed community of partners is more relevant than ever.
Every number in this report reflects these crucial partnerships. Law enforcement agencies calling our call center. Tech platforms reporting to the CyberTipline. Professionals contributing to NCMEC Connect. Brave survivors sharing their stories. And wonderful supporters who power it all.
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NCMEC 2025 Impact Report
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