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[–]sodasplash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

The VAST majority are “kidnappings” by spouses who do not have custody or hoax/falsely reported kidnappings to make the spouse without custody look bad in court. 99% of these children are recovered within 24 hours. This is why Amber Alerts are bullshit and I hate them. Don’t make me involved in your custody dispute.

[–]sodasplash 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Also, TONS are teenage runaways from abusive families. If they’re under 18 and their parents want them back they get put down as a missing child even if the teenager themself would rather do anything than return home.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I looked up these numbers once from the reports themselves, and what you're saying is true, 98% of those were found or were falsely reported. The actual number of missing children per year was something like 8,000 per year. Which is still a lot, but makes a lot more sense out of a 330M population.