Child Abduction Statistics

The National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) has placed cases into five categories……

1. Family Abductions – A child was taken in violation of a custody agreement or degree, failed to return a child at the end of a legal or agreed-upon visit, with the child being away at least overnight. An attempt was made to conceal the taking, or the whereabouts of a child, or to prevent contact with the child. The child is transported out of state, or there is evidence that the abductor had the intent to keep the child indefinitely, or to permanently alter custodial privileges.
2. Non-Family Abductions – Attempted abductions, for example luring of a child for the purposes of committing another crime. Coerced and unauthorized taking of a child into a building, a vehicle, or a distance of more than 20 feet, the detention of a child for a period of more than one hour.
3. Runaways – Children that have left home without permission and stayed away overnight and during the course of their runaway episodes, were without a secure and familiar place to stay. These also include children who have run away from a juvenile facility.
4. Thrownaways – These are children who have experienced any of the following situations:

• The child was told to leave the household.
• The child was away from home and the parent/guardian refused to allow the child back.
• The child ran away, but the parent/guardian made no effort to recover the child, or did not care whether or not the child returned.
• The child was abandoned or deserted.

5. Lost, Injured, or Otherwise Missing:

• Children missing for varying periods of time, depending on their age, disability, and whether the absence was due to an injury.
• Parental Kidnapping / Family Abductions – A child was taken in violation of a custody agreement or degree, failed to return a child at the end of a legal or agreed-upon visit, with the child being away at least overnight. An attempt was made to conceal the taking, or the whereabouts of a child, or to prevent contact with the child. The child is transported out of state, or there is evidence that the abductor had the intent to keep the child indefinitely, or to permanently alter custodial privileges.

More than 350,000 family abductions occur in the U.S. each year, that is nearly 1,000 per day !
163,000 of these cases involve the concealment of a child, transporting out of state, or intent to keep the child permanently
Parental Kidnapping Study Results:

• The child has experienced serious mental harm in 16% of the cases (56,000)
• The child has experienced physical abuse or harm in 8% of the cases
• (The University of Maryland found a 24% incidence of physical abuse)
• The child is sexually abused in 1% of the cases (The University of Maryland found a 7% incidence of sexual abuse)
• Mothers flee with children in 54% of the cases
• Fathers flee with children in 46% of the cases

Case settlements:

• one-third of all cases settled within 30 days / 80% of all cases settled within a year
• one-half of all cases settled within 60 days / 90% of all cases settled within two years

Factors Contributing to Parental Kidnappings:

• In 1998, there will be an estimated 1 million divorces, affecting more than 1 million children
• There are 10 million children, living with a single parent who is separated, or divorced 150,000 divorces, or 1 in 7 involve child custody battles
• Today’s average marriage will last about seven years
• Single-parent families has quadrupled since 1960
• Divorces have tripled in numbers since 1960

(Source: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
The National Crime Information Center (NCIC)


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