 Good morning I'm very happy to welcome all of you here this morning and First I would like to introduce those who are with me on the dais First to senator Paula Hawkins of Florida John and Ravay Walsh and their baby daughter Megan Jane Linda Otto producer of Adam and founder of find the children We are gathered here for the best of reasons The children of America who constitute our most valuable resource Today we mark the opening of the National Center for missing and exploited children The center will be a key part of our efforts at the Department of Justice to protect and help children in danger In a moment the president will speak But I thought it would be appropriate for me to say a few words about the nature of the problem of missing and exploited children And about the new center Nobody really knows exactly how many children want to run away from home But one estimate puts the figure at 1.5 million a year Thousands of these children are never accounted for and Virtually all of them are vulnerable to physical sexual and other criminal exploitation Thank you very much. Thank you Thank you very much. Thank you for a very warm welcome and especially from one young lady up here But attorney general Smith Distinguished members of the Congress and honored guests and ladies and gentlemen good morning and welcome to the White House I'm delighted to have the opportunity to help launch the National Center for missing and exploited children And to tell you that the safety and protection of our children is a top priority on the national agenda all Americans and Especially our youth Should have the right and the opportunity to walk our streets to play and to grow and to live their lives without being at risk But sadly our children are at risk Johnny gosh age 12 Des Moines, Iowa vanished from his paper route in September of 1982 He's still missing Kevin Collins a 10 year old lad from San Francisco disappeared last February after basketball practice and Gottlieb 12 of Louisville, Kentucky has been gone without a trace since last summer and Then there was Adam America knows Adam Walsh and one of his tragic story an innocent victim of a cruel predatory crime There are too many children like Adam too many stolen each year from loved ones Too many who feel pain and suffering too many who fall prey to exploitation and death We don't know the exact number of victims, but it's certainly numbers in the thousands When Adam Walsh a bright happy six-year-old boy disappeared in the summer of 1981 John and a rive Walsh Found themselves alone in their crisis. They were thwarted by jurisdictional tangles and foot dragging The heartbreak of the moment became a thrilling chilling nightmare of terror and unbelievable frustration Our commitment to criminal justice goes far deeper than a desire to punish the guilty Our laws represent the collective moral voice of a free society and right now that voice is crying out to protect our Children and keep them safe. I Hope we can mark the opening of the National Center for missing and exploited children by redoubling our efforts to do just that We must and will Continue cracking down on career criminals drug pushers and the pornographers We must and will continue working to protect the interests of our children and their families But make no mistake the strongest Guardian against crime and particularly crime against children is We the people Helen Cromer wrote one man awake can awaken another The second can awaken his next-door brother The three awake can rouse the town by turning the whole place upside down and the many awake make such a fuss They finally awaken the rest of us The courage of John and Rivet waltz in the face of the most difficult grief imaginable Awakened our nation to the tragedy of America's missing children Thanks to their efforts and those of senator Paula Hawkins Many others. I was able to sign the missing children act into law in October of 1982 The act established a system that allowing parents under certain circumstances Access to a central computer file to help trace missing children The act also aids in identifying deceased children and adults and at least eases the pain of not knowing We've also recently signed into law child pornography legislation, which will assist law enforcement agencies in their war against the exploitation of children and Let me take this opportunity to salute a related effort aimed at helping children who become wards of the court The court-appointed special advocate program Casa as it's called is a new community-based effort of trained volunteers Serving as advocates of abused and neglected children Casa is already working in several states giving America's discarded children the protection they need And now we're launching an effort to extend the program all across America But as you know these efforts are only the essential first steps and formidable challenges remain Meeting them is what the National Center for missing and exploited children is all about Starting with a three point three million dollar Justice Department grant the center will have three divisions The division on missing children will assist parents and citizens groups in locating and safely returning missing children It will give technical assistance to law enforcement agencies and it will help coordinate the efforts of community organizations all across America That are involved in the missing children activities And later this summer the center will open a toll-free 800 telephone number to handle inquiries and accept information on sightings The division on exploited children will provide valuable support and technical assistance to the professionals Who deal with these difficult missing children cases every day? The division on education Prevention and public awareness will collect and distribute information on the most effective ways To address and prevent the problem of the estimated 1.8 million children missing from their homes each year What we're doing is launching a public-private partnership Partnerships can take advantage of every opportunity available and they can use these opportunities in a most efficient and productive way To protect our children and keep them safe No single nation sector of our nation can solve the problem of missing and exploited children alone But by working together pooling our resources and building on our strengths. We can accomplish great things Three weeks ago. We signed a missing children's day proclamation and urged the private sector to help and America is responding Trailways Corporation and the International Association of Chiefs of Police have established Operation Home Free a program that provides runaway children a ride home Television stations are broadcasting photographs of missing children and now it's time to do even more Now before I close I want to take this opportunity to Thank Bill Smith the Walsh's Lois Harrington J. Howell The executive director of the Center and the many other concerned Americans for all that you are doing America's future is in the hands of our children Your dedication and hard work will give our children a chance to live well and live full healthy and happy lives And I want you to know that all of us in the administration Stand behind you eager to assist in any way we can together We can turn the tide on these hateful crimes and knowing what you have accomplished already I'm confident we will I thank you and I God bless you all and now I'd like to ask John Walsh to say a few words Thank You mr. President Three years ago when Adam was missing Although our local police searched diligently in their own small jurisdiction We soon came to the harsh reality that there was no system No local state or federally funded agencies existed to assist parents into deal with the problem of America's missing and exploited children Since that time we have traveled this country seeking knowledge and trying to create awareness Along the way many people turn their backs on us for whatever reasons But some cared and cared enough to do something about it some of those people whom we've grown to love are in this room today Lendado who believed that prime-time television could and should deal with a tough subject if she presented it with integrity and she did NBC who put Adam on and set precedent by showing the roll call of missing children at the end the first airing returning 12 children The second airing finding second seven children so far Senator Paula Hawkins Who believed that there was and is a federal responsibility to children and? my good friend Jay howl The executive director the new center Whose dream is the center Who continually reached out to counsel and advise all of us searching in desperate parents Those are just some of the many in this room who cared and We are often asked what we've learned and what is the perspective of the victim First I can't give the perspective of the victim Because the real victim isn't here. We're not the real victims We're just the heartbroken parents left behind and What have we learned? We've learned that the problem of missing and exploited children is a huge problem of national scope and We learned in our fight to change attitudes and affect legislative reform That the assumption that they Meaning whomever will change things is ludicrous Because we are the days you and I The people who prey upon our women and children have counted on this society's aversion to the problem and people's Tendency to turn their heads We are all responsible for all the children Adults are responsible for not only their health and education But also their safety. I beseech you not to assume it couldn't happen to you It has happened to thousands of children and parents We always react after our women and children have been raped molested missing or murdered This center will take a proactive stance Not only to assist and coordinate, but to create awareness and to educate and the missing children's assistance act on the floor of Congress Now we'll establish this center permanently and give it much-needed expanded funding I pray for its speedy passage and to see you mr. President Again in the Rose Garden for this signing The private sector has taken initiative trailsways and the chief of police with a runaway program have returned 19 children To date on free tickets home The problem of missing molested abused and exploited children didn't occur overnight and We aren't the first parents of an abducted and murdered child But no prior administration has seen fit to address the problem in this aggressive manner up until now So mr. President on behalf of searching parents in this room and everywhere The atom still alive The Magans That represent this country's truly silent majority the children I present you with these quarter million signatures of children who saw saw Adam and know what we are doing here today These are on loan to you. I have a permanent plaque for you. We're going to take These signatures back to the center But I take the liberty today To speak for those children and thank you because obviously you care enough to do something about it. Thank you