States Failed To Correctly Report Two-Thirds Of Missing Foster Children From 2018 Through 2020

Nearly seven in ten cases in which a youth in foster care was missing for two or more days between July 2018 and December 2020 were not reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). State agencies failed to report and estimated 51,115 of the episodes in accordance with Federal requirements. One potential reason for the lack of accurate data is an egregious lack of reporting systems in place at most agencies that preclude states from verifying that they submitted data about missing children to NCMEC.

The findings were reported by the federal Office of the . . .