With Urgency

Last week, msn.com featured a two-day series of articles about missing adults and how they are portrayed in the media. The fact is, if you know someone who is missing, don't expect the media to help you find them unless they are a pretty, young, Caucasian female. There is nothing that accounts for this serious inconsistency in media exposure. Frankly, it made me sick to my stomach to read about it.

The article mentioned a non-profit organization similar to the federally-funded National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA). This organization gives voice to the adults who are missing, and to the families who are searching for them. And the most dreadful news regarding the NCMA is that the bill to provide it with government financial support is sitting in the hands of our congressional representatives untouched.

The NCMA expunged its resources, even including the founder's personal savings, to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina find missing loved ones. They did this at the request of the US government with promises that they would be financially reimbursed for their efforts. The NCMA has been forced to greatly downsize its staff to continue operating, and they've been struggling to do it ever since.

It's hard to say how current the information on their website is, as most of the dates are from 2006. The fact, though, is that they seem to be still there and are still in need of help. The current bill to re-establish federal funds for this organization was introduced to the Congress on January 11th of this year and has not gone past the introduction stage. It is HR 423, to authorize the Attorney General to provide grants to organizations to find missing adults.

You can urge your representatives to make a move on this bill. You can go to http://www.theyaremissed.org/ and make a donation. You can do something, even if you've never been in a situation to need the services of the NCMA. Perhaps you may consider, if you went missing, who would give your loved ones the help they need to find you? Wouldn't you want someone on their side and yours?

I read the MSN feature last week. The whole time I was thinking about my friends in Idaho, and their search for a friend, Landon Orcutt, who went missing over a year ago. Willow blogged about their continuing efforts just Tuesday.

I know it is impossible to support every cause, but it is crucial to support those organizations that work to bring aid to the innocent, and comfort and hope to their families. Just because they are adults doesn't mean they are less in need.