How Families of Missing Children Are Helping Other Families With Missing Children

How Families of Missing Children Are Helping Other Families With Missing
Children

Family Members from 31 cities and 22 States to be Trained as Team HOPE
Volunteers by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Team HOPE is a unique
program offered by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
(NCMEC) that provides assistance to families with missing or exploited
children by matching them up with other families who have experienced or are
currently living with the pain of a missing or exploited child.
The family members are trained as volunteers for the Team HOPE program and
provide peer support, resources and empowerment to other families of missing
or children. Annual training of new volunteers for 2009 will be held from
July 31 to August 3 at NCMEC's New York Regional Office in Rochester, New
York. Thirty-five family members from 31 cities and 22 states across the
country will be trained as new Team HOPE volunteers.

Team HOPE is Help Offering Parents Empowerment. The volunteers are mothers,
fathers, siblings and extended family members of missing or exploited
children. Each of these extraordinary volunteers has demonstrated the ability
to turn their own personal tragedy into a vital lifeline of support for other
families.

"We're thrilled that our branch is serving as the location for the annual
Team HOPE training," said Ed Suk, executive director of NY Regional Office of
NCMEC. "Team HOPE's ability to relate to other families going through a
similar crisis is invaluable. These volunteers are there for families every
step of the way. When dealing with the trauma of having a missing or sexually
exploited child it is critical to have that type of continuous support."

Participants in the Team HOPE training this week are from the following
cities:

Alabama (Montgomery)
Arizona (Phoenix)
Arkansas (Pine Bluff)
California (Oceanside, Sacramento and West Covina)
Florida (Sunrise)
Georgia (Cumming and Lawrenceville)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Indiana (Columbus and Noblesville)
Maryland (Annapolis, Bethesda and Middletown)
Massachusetts (West Warren)
Michigan (Howell)
Missouri (Elsberry)
Nevada (Las Vegas)
New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New York (Wynatskill)
North Carolina (Greensboro)
Ohio (Greenville and Canal Winchester)
Oregon (Lake Oswego and Winston)
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
Texas (Pflugerville and Round Rock)
Virginia (Hampton)
Washington (Tacoma)

Team HOPE was created by NCMEC in 1998. The program matches searching
families with experienced and trained volunteers who have had or still have a
missing or sexually exploited child. Because of their unique experience Team
HOPE volunteers are able to offer emotional support, compassion, guidance,
empowerment and assistance in ways traditional community service agencies can
not provide. Since its creation more than 10 years ago, Team HOPE has trained
more than 235 volunteers and helped more than 40,000 families.

Team HOPE volunteers are nominated from a variety of sources including active
Team HOPE volunteers, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children,
state missing children clearinghouses, nonprofit organizations dealing with
missing children issues, and law enforcement officials.

This year the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children celebrates its
25th anniversary. NCMEC has played a role in the recovery of more than 138,500
children. Today more children come home safely than ever before. In 2008,
NCMEC helped recover more children than any other year in the organization's
25-year history raising the recovery rate from 62% in 1990 to 97% today. And
more of those who prey on children are being identified and prosecuted. Yet
too many children are still missing and too many children are still the
victims of sexual exploitation. There is much more that needs to be done.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization
has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's hotline which
has handled more than 2,377,000 calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the
recovery of more than 138,500 children. The organization's CyberTipline has
handled more than 713,700 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child
Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 24,810,500
child pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Justice's office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention.

To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at
1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.

SOURCE National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

NCMEC Alexandria, VA, Public Relations Department, +1-703-837-6111,
media@ncmec.org, or New York Branch, Rochester, NY, Kathy Phelps, Dixon
Schwabl, +1-585-383-0389 ext 238, KathyPhelps@dixonschwabl.com