Mayor Bowser building on missing children initiatives with support of DC's young women of color

WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is building on the missing children initiatives she announced last Friday with a plan to support young women of color in the District's public schools.

The 'Reign: Empowering Young Women as Leaders' initiative aims to build community, confidence, and leadership skills in young women of color in D.C.

Ahead of Monday's announcement, Bowser reinforced her plan to locate young people who have been reported as missing in the District. Her initiatives, she said, will provide critical resources to better address the issues that cause young people to run away from home and will provide support to young people who may be considering leaving home.

"Before leaving home," Bowser tweeted, "we want kids to talk to a teacher or counselor or someone at church so we can get them the services they need."

In recent weeks, what many have perceived as an increase in the number of missing kids has prompted some celebrities to speak out.

Officials say that while the increased attention to missing children in D.C. is helping shine a light on the issue, it's important that the correct information is shared. Officials continue warning of inaccurate information circulating on the internet about missing children cases.

"One missing young person, is one too many, and these new initiatives will help us do more to find and protect young people, particularly young girls of color, across our city," said Mayor Bowser on Friday. "Through social media, we have been able to highlight this problem and bring awareness to open cases, and now we are doing more to ensure that families and children are receiving the wraparound services they need to keep families together and children safe."

Bowser Administration Six New Initiatives to Address Missing Young People in Washington, DC

Initiative 1: Increase the Number of MPD Officers Assigned to Children and Family Services Division

MPD will increase officer staffing of the Children and Family Services Division. The newly assigned officers will share the responsibility of locating youth who have been reported missing. Additional officers may be provided through the Senior Police Officer Program, detailing of officers from other divisions, particularly officers who have previously served in this division, or the use of school resource officers.

Initiative 2: Expansion of the MPD Missing Persons Webpage and Social Media Messaging to Include Case Catalog with Broader Information

The current MPD Missing Persons website includes a tally of cases and very general information on each open case which is compiled into a Critical Missing flyer. Effective immediately, the updated MPD site will share more information about missing youth including: the circumstances of the child (abduction, parent abducted, child left home/school/other), the MPD officer assigned to the case, and more images. When the child is located, the date will be noted.

Initiative 3: Establish the Missing Persons Evaluation and Reconnection Resources Collaborative

The Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants (OVSJG), and identified community-based organizations will assist MPD with instituting a comprehensive evaluation of youth who are found or return home to assess the circumstances around their departure and to provide any additional resources/support/services necessary for the health and well-being of the child and the family.

A proposed citywide response and protocol will be created by a director level working group to serve all youth who have been reported missing and their families. This protocol will provide supports to the family while the child is missing. It will also ensure that young people and families are assessed appropriately and linked to resources that will enable successful reunification and sustainable family relationships that prevent repeat run away cases.

Initiative 4: OVSJG and CFSA Lead Working Group

OVSJG and the CFSA will lead a director level working group to analyze individual open cases, assess and analyze trends, and manage resource requests. A preliminary meeting has already taken place, and the group identified the following goals:

Develop a protocol to ensure that every runaway youth, upon return, is assessed and the reason for leaving established;

Work on creating a process that will ensure support for families while a child is missing and services available when he/she returns; and

Identify prevention efforts with families, schools, the Summer Youth Employment Program, and others.

Initiative 5: DMHHS and OVSJGA Additional Grant Support for Non-Profits Addressing Runaway Youth

OVSJGA and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) will identify and promote grant funding to both advocacy and community-based organizations. DMHHS will release its latest round of Safer, Stronger DC grants, and OVSJGA will identify additional grant funding for advocacy and nonprofits with resources for runaway youth and their parents/guardians. The Mayor's Budget Office is in the process of identifying existing resources for grants that can be distributed expeditiously.

Initiative 6: PSA Announcement to Support Public Education Addressing Missing Youth in DC

The Mayor's Office of Communication and the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment (OCTFME) will create and promote the 800RUNAWAY hotline and website for youth and their parents/guardians through public service announcements. In addition, the OVSJG and CFSA Lead Working Group will work on identifying prevention efforts to educate young people.