Governor Proclaims Missing Children's Day

Missing Children's Day

2025

By The Governor Of The State Of North Carolina

A Proclamation

Whereas, last year, the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons recorded 14,374 cases of missing persons; 8,756 of those reports were for missing children, 96 percent of whom were returned to their families safely; and

Whereas, the N.C. Center for Missing Persons works closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and sponsors training for law enforcement officers, first responders, home care providers and assisted living facilities; and

Whereas, the N.C. Center for Missing Persons maintains an extensive computer database and serves as a statewide resource center for information on missing children and adults, gives assistance to sheriffs’ offices and police departments, serves as the liaison between states and various governmental agencies when child abductions cross state lines, and manages the North Carolina Amber Alert, Missing Endangered Alert, and Blue Alert systems; and

Whereas, the N.C. Center for Missing Persons activates the N.C. Amber Alert system when a child is believed to have been abducted by a stranger or to be in danger of injury or death and activates the Missing Endangered Alert system when a person is missing and is believed to have dementia or a cognitive impairment; and

Whereas, the National Amber Alert program has been Credited with the successful rescue of 1,186 children since inception; the N.C. Center for Missing Persons activated the AMBER Alert system 1,268 times in 2024; and

Whereas, families can take steps to prevent child abductions by knowing where their children play and who their friends are and by talking with them about their personal safety at home, at school, and on the internet; and

Whereas, if a child is missing, their family must immediately file a missing persons report with local law enforcement, remembering time is a critical factor; and

Whereas, each year the N.C. Center for Missing Persons joins the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in observing the National Missing Children’s Poster Contest and National Missing Children’s Day;

Now, Therefore, I, Josh Stein, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim May 25, 2025, as “Missing Children's Day” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this sixteenth day of April in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-fifth and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.