Portman's Human Trafficking Bill Passes Senate Judiciary Committee

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) announced that his bipartisan legislation to better protect missing and exploited children in the United States has passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Bringing Missing Children Home Act improves law enforcement reporting and response procedures in cases of missing children by refining and streamlining how cases of missing children are handled. Portman authored this bill with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and it passed out of committee as a part of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.

In July 2013, the FBI conducted a nationwide sting focusing on instances of child sex trafficking and recovered 105 sexually exploited children; more than 70 percent had prior involvement with the child welfare system or foster care.

"I'm pleased this important legislation has passed out of committee as it will help ensure that law enforcement and state and local child welfare systems are able to work together efficiently and effectively on accomplishing their joint mission," said Portman. "This bill will help our nation's most vulnerable children, who far too often fall prey to sex trafficking. These children have been forgotten or disregarded by a system that was established to keep them safe, and our bill will ensure that we work collaboratively to bring these children home."

Domestic child sex trafficking remains a serious problem in the United States. There are an estimated 293,000 American youths at risk of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking. Research suggests that the majority of trafficked youth have been in and out of the child welfare system and run from care immediately prior to being trafficked or sexually exploited. The strong correlation between children who are missing or abducted and children who are sex trafficked or commercially sexually exploited makes it imperative that law enforcement better coordinate directly with the state and local child welfare systems to consistently report missing children and improve the quality of information available to law enforcement in the investigation so that the child can be found.

Specifically, the Bringing Missing Children Home Act of 2014:

Amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act to replace the term "child prostitution" with "child sex trafficking." This change is consistent with federal law and reinforces that children who are sex trafficked or sexually exploited are victims, not criminals, making it clear that we must save these children from abuse.

Requires law enforcement to update the records of missing children within 30 days after the initial report with additional information learned through the investigation, including medical records, dental records, and a photograph, where available.

Requires law enforcement to coordinate directly with the state and local child welfare systems when a child is reported missing in order to expand the information available about the missing child for the purposes of the investigation.

Allows state missing persons units and state law enforcement to modify a missing child entry to include information as it is uncovered through investigation. Under current regulations, missing persons units and state Attorneys General cannot modify records in the National Crime Information Center to include newly discovered information unless they have been granted permission by the Originating Agency Identifier or National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Portman and Schumer's legislation removes this roadblock by taking the commonsense step of allowing state law enforcement to update records as new information is uncovered.

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