According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, about 460,000 children go missing every year in the US.
Background
2021 NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics
There are multiple factors that can go into a missing child's case. Every detail is important, whether that be physical description, gender, race, or age. From this graphic, it is shown the circumstances of most missing persons, in this case childrens. The female to male juvenile ratio of disappearances being notably similar.
“An estimated 203,900 children were victims of a family abduction in 1999"
-Child Find America
Abduction cases have several details that are notable. Data relating to the abductor's relation to the child as well as the child's age can help law enforcement better understand a case. Before the Amber Alert, a chance of recovery within the same day was very rare. Even with the known data.
From Child Find America
There were multiple ways of bringing awareness to the public of disappearances, as there were no systems specifically for abductions. This included the Missing Kids Milk Cartons which was discontinued in the late 80s, TV broadcasts which cut through programming, and finally missing persons posters.
From News Australia .
From CBS
From Medium