When Youth Speak, We Must Listen: A Story of Missing Youth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sacramento, CA — During the 4^th Annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Policy Summit, many community members stood before the crowd to share stories no family should have to tell. Some adults have gone missing. Some of those missing were children from their Tribal communities. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into years. Families searched, called authorities, posted flyers, and waited for updates that rarely came.

Each year in the United States, approximately 460,000 children are reported missing. Yet only a small percentage qualify for an AMBER Alert, which is reserved for confirmed abductions where law enforcement determines a child is in immediate danger and specific criteria are met. In 2023, fewer than one percent of missing youth cases triggered an AMBER Alert.

The AMBER Alert system has helped recover more than 1,200 abducted children nationwide. It saves lives. But many missing Indigenous children do not meet the narrow abduction criteria, even when they face serious risk.

For Native American and Alaska Native communities, the gap is significant. In recent years, more than 10,000 American Indian and Alaska Native individuals have been reported missing annually, thousands of them minors. Data collection remains inconsistent across jurisdictions, and families frequently report limited communication and delayed response times.

Tribal youth are now calling for change and with Native Public Media’s help, pointing toward the new Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP) Alert. The MEP Alert is live across all 50 states and U.S. territories; but its adoption has been slow.

The MEP Alert expands the public safety response beyond abduction-only cases. It allows law enforcement to issue alerts for missing individuals who face credible danger but may not meet AMBER Alert criteria. When implemented through the federal Emergency Alert System (EAS), the MEP Alert can transmit messages to Tribal radio and television stations via EAS and directly to mobile phones via Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA).

Unlike AMBER Alerts, which focus strictly on confirmed abductions, the MEP Alert recognizes that danger can take many forms, including trafficking risk, domestic violence, mental health crisis, or vulnerability due to age or disability.

Youth panelists emphasized that equal urgency matters. They urged law enforcement to treat every missing person case with consistent communication and transparency. Families should never feel forgotten while waiting for answers.

The MEP Alert does not replace the AMBER Alert. It fills the gap. It ensures that endangered Indigenous minors who do not meet strict abduction criteria still receive rapid, coordinated public attention.

Behind every statistic is a child, a sibling, a cousin, a grandchild. When Tribal youth speak, they remind us that every child deserves visibility, protection, and justice. With proper implementation, training, and public awareness, the Missing and Endangered Persons Alert can become a life-saving bridge for the children and youth who too often fall between existing systems.

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