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The Kristen Petition...

What is the Kristen Petition?

Currently, 100% of federal funding that is allocated each year to help search for missing children is given to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They do an effective job spreading the word about missing children nationally, and even globally, using these funds to support the ADVO mailers (the "have you seen me" missing child post cards that reach every home in the USA).  A child disappears every 12 seconds in our country, and this staggering statistic does not include the many children that are over the age of 18 when they are abducted or simply disappear without a trace. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with 100% of the available federal funds at their disposal, can do nothing to help these "older" missing loved ones. Existing laws prevent the National Center from getting involved.

Kristen Modafferi disappeared just 3 weeks after her 18th birthday. We, Kristen's parents, were turned down when we appealed to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for help. We were able to get much needed and appreciated assistance from other organizations that don't have "age" restrictions, but none of these organizations currently get any of the federally allocated monies to help them fund their search efforts and awareness campaigns.

We feel that any missing child, regardless if he or she is over the age of 18 at the time of their disappearance, is still someone's child, and laws must be changed to allocate funds to help find them as well. The Kristen Petition program was started in the fall of 1998, to call attention to the need to change the laws to help our older missing children and adults. The first phase was to spread the word about the petition through face to face contact, through churches and schools, through web sites and e-mail, and whatever other means we could think of to get as many signatures as possible. The results were better than we anticipated, and we now feel that we have enough signatures to take to Washington D.C. We will be joining other parents of missing "older" children, making up an advocacy group to lobby for changes in the existing laws. The trip to Washington will take place in March, 1999.

We are very encouraged by the response to the petition campaign, which is now completed, and we wish to thank each and every person who helped us by distributing and signing "The Kristen Petition". The probability that we will be successful in changing the laws has been greatly enhanced because of you!

The Modafferi Family