On the recordMay 18, 2010
As a former prosecutor and a judge in Texas, and now the founder and cochair, along with my friend Jim Costa from California, of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus, I rise in strong support of this resolution which seeks to honor May 25 as National Missing Children's Day. This day is the anniversary of the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. The momentum that began with the disappearance of Etan and many children that followed him ultimately led to the national movement that we now have today. As my friend from Florida mentioned, the other notorious case was the disappearance of Adam Walsh when he was 6, when he was with his mother at a shopping mall and then kidnapped, and later he was found in the Gulf of Mexico. His father, John Walsh, because of the incident that happened against his son, started the program 'America's Most Wanted' on television that sought to capture criminals throughout the United States, a program that has been very successful. In 1983, President Reagan proclaimed May 25 as National Missing Children's Day. This day serves as a reminder to parents to have high-quality photographs of their kids handy, and a reminder to us in Congress that the safety of those children should be a national priority of all Members of Congress. Every year thousands of children are reported missing.
