	Introduction

Adults may go missing due to personal choice; an abduction or foul play; a physical or developmental disability; natural catastrophes that displace individuals, such as a hurricane; or certain high-risk behaviors, including gang involvement or drug use, among other circumstances. State and local laws govern how criminal justice entities respond to missing adult cases. Unlike children, adults have the legal right to go missing in most cases and may do so to seek protection from a domestic abuser and other related reasons. Congress authorized the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert program under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 ( P.L. In 2000, Congress authorized the Department of Justice (DOJ), through Kristen's Act ( P.L. 106-468 ), to make grants to establish a national clearinghouse for missing adults and provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies in locating missing adults. This grant was funded from FY2002 through FY2006. The federal government has also supported efforts to establish databases to track and identify missing adults, their relatives, and unidentified human remains. Adults with dementia have been identified as high-risk for going missing by advocates for older adults. However, three federally supported data sources provide some insight into this number: the Missing Person File at the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC); the FBI's National DNA Index System (NDIS), which stores information on offenders and arrestees, forensic evidence, as well as individuals believed to be missing, their relatives, and unidentified human remains; and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), administered by DOJ's National Institute of Justice (NIJ). As of December 31, 2016, the Unidentified Remains File included 8,431 unidentified persons. 103-322 ). Comparison and Interaction of Databases

Records of missing persons or unidentified remains are submitted to most of the databases by authorized law enforcement agencies, state missing persons clearinghouses, medical examiners and coroners, or DNA laboratories. All of the databases can be accessed only by the federal government or authorized law enforcement and other personnel; however, records in NamUs and the NCMA database can also be reviewed by the public, though sometimes only on a limited basis for NamUs. Federal Role in Recovering Missing Adults

In recent years, the federal government has played a role both in preventing certain types of missing adult incidents and in working to recover adults who go missing, including those who are deceased and for whom only remains provide clues to the circumstances surrounding their disappearance. These efforts are (1) the DNA Initiative, created under President George W. Bush, which focused on identifying the remains of unidentified deceased individuals; (2) National Missing Persons Task Force, with its emphasis on achieving greater cooperation among the various federal databases; (3) the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert program to prevent missing episodes and locate missing individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia; (4) activities funded under Kristen's Act to locate missing adults; and (5) the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which works to recover missing children and adults ages 18 to 21 who are reported to the agency as missing by law enforcement officials. Congress appropriated funding for the program from FY1996 through FY2015. Funding was not appropriated in FY2016 and FY2017. Funding under the program has been awarded to a variety of entities, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Alzheimer's Association, MedicAlert Foundation Project Lifesaver, and universities. Kristen's Act authorized $1 million in funding for each of FY2001 to FY2004 and permitted the Attorney General to make grants to assist law enforcement agencies in locating missing adults; maintain a database for tracking adults believed by law enforcement to be endangered due to age, diminished mental capacity, and possible foul play; maintain statistical information on missing adults; provide resources and referrals to the families of missing adults; and establish and maintain a national clearinghouse for missing adults. Issues

Federal and state policymakers and other stakeholders have increasingly focused on three issues related to adults who go missing: (1) coordinating databases on missing persons; and (2) assisting states with building the capacity to develop both alert systems to inform the public about missing older adults and technology to recover these individuals. In addition, missing persons may not be found in a place that is well-trafficked.
Adults may go missing due to personal choice, an abduction, foul play, a mental or physical disability, or a natural catastrophe, among other reasons. Although no accurate estimates exist of the number of missing adults, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that as of December 31, 2016, approximately 54,000 cases of missing adults (age 18 and older) were pending in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system, a federal computerized index with data on crimes and locator files for missing and unidentified persons. Certain adults are particularly vulnerable to missing episodes; for example, those with dementia are at risk for becoming disoriented while engaged in a routine activity and may not be able to determine where they are or get to where they should be. Adults who engage in high-risk behaviors, including involvement in gang activity, may also be more prone to going missing.
Unlike children, adults have the legal right to go missing under most circumstances. As a result, families of missing adults may receive limited assistance from state and local law enforcement entities in recovering their loved ones. The federal government has not been involved in assisting law enforcement entities with missing adult cases in the same way it has with missing children cases. Further, cases of missing children and young adults under the age of 21 must be reported to the NCIC, while reporting missing adults to the database is voluntary. In recent years, however, the federal government has increasingly played a role in (1) preventing certain types of missing adult incidents; (2) working to recover adults who go missing, including those who are deceased and for whom only remains can be found; and (3) supporting databases, including NCIC, that maintain records of missing adults and unidentified remains.
Recognizing the needs of a growing aging population, Congress authorized funding for the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert program under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322). The purpose of the program is to locate and respond to those with Alzheimer's and dementia who go missing. Congress provided appropriations for the program of $750,000 to $2 million annually from FY1996 through FY2015. No funding was appropriated for FY2016 or FY2017. Grants had been awarded under the program to a variety of entities, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Alzheimer's Association, Project Lifesaver, and universities. In 2000, Congress passed Kristen's Act (P.L. 106-468) to authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make grants to establish a national clearinghouse for missing adults and provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies in locating these individuals. From FY2002 through FY2006, DOJ made grants for these purposes. In addition, the federal DNA Initiative has also supported efforts to recover missing persons and identify unidentified human remains by funding DNA analysis and related assistance.
In addition to the NCIC, the federal government maintains the National DNA Index System (NDIS), which stores criminal information as well as information on individuals believed to be missing, their relatives, and unidentified human remains; and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), which includes databases for missing adults and unidentified remains. Records are submitted to most of the databases by law enforcement agencies, state missing persons clearinghouses, medical examiners and coroners, or DNA laboratories. The NDIS, NamUs, and NCIC databases can be accessed only by authorized law enforcement and other personnel; however, records in NamUs can also be reviewed by the public.
Policymakers and other stakeholders have increasingly focused on the coordination of the federal databases on missing persons, as well as the role of the federal government in providing assistance to states and localities to develop alert systems and technology to locate missing adults. Many states have developed alert systems to recover vulnerable adults who have gone missing.