This bill reauthorizes and expands the Missing Children's Assistance Act, a federal program that helps locate and protect missing and sexually exploited children. The legislation updates the program's definitions to include new forms of child exploitation such as sextortion, sexting abuse, and child sexual abuse material, and it expands the duties of the program's administrator to provide enhanced services like removing exploitative content from the internet, offering recovery support and counseling, and coordinating with child welfare agencies on missing foster children. The bill also increases funding for the program from $40 million annually to $49.3 million per year for fiscal years 2024 through 2028, with caps adjusted accordingly. Additionally, the legislation requires the program to publish detailed demographic data on missing children and establish clear criteria for forensic partnerships with law enforcement. The bill takes effect on October 1, 2023.
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