The day of the national missing children shows the ongoing efforts to prevent and solve cases

May 25th marks National Missing Children Day. The commemoration was explained by President Ronald Regan in 1983.

The day was originally supposed to honor the life of 6-year-old Etan Patzes, who was missing on May 25, 1979 in Manhattan.

Patz 'case attracted nationwide attention and triggered prevention and education towards missing children.

Relatives: In 1979 man receives the case of missing boy Etan Patz

CBS6 spoke to a representative of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice about their prevention and educational efforts.

“When children are missing, they know that they also have outliers or kidnaps and how important it is not only to communicate with families, but also organizations of the community and law enforcement authorities who do the work,” said Joseph Popcun, deputy executive commissioner Nys DCJs. “I consider this to be a spectrum of sensitization, preventive efforts, but also has a strong reaction to ensure that we combine families for the best circle for the best work.”

More: The fifth graders of the NY raise awareness of missing children through the poster competition

According to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice, the state reported 12,114 cases of missing children in 2024.

About 11,490 of them were out of control.

Statistics show that most cases were white and black girls between the ages of 13 and 15.

Around 7,000 of these children returned home and over 4.00 were found.