By Sarah Fenske
You can't find anyone who'll say a bad word about the National Center for Missing Adults. The Phoenix-based non-profit agency has been the adult version of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for more than a decade--serving as a national database and resource for families with missing persons over the age of 18.
But as I reported last fall, Congressional squabbling has held up the agency's funding for more than two years. Apparently, this has nothing to do with the National Center's performance, yet founder and CEO Kym Pasqualini told me that without a cash infusion, she'd have no choice but to close her doors ASAP.
That was in November, yet Pasqualini has managed to hang on, somehow. And now, Congress may finally be ready to take some action. Pasqualini's supporters say there's a hearing to discuss the agency's funding scheduled for 2 p.m. EST. Supporters are urged to call their Congressional representative and urge them to move on H.R. 423, also known as "Kristen's Act Reathorization of 2007." (And yes, I know it's 2008 already ... see what I mean about Congressional stalling?)
For more information on how to get involved, check out this Web page from the Center. It'll only take a minute, but, trust me, somewhere out there a family missing a loved one will be very grateful that you took the time to help.









I attended the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. It's rare these days for everyone from both parties to come together on an important issue of service to the public, but in this case every single witness and every member of the subcommittee was in favor of reauthorization of funding for the National Center for Missing Adults. Congresswoman Sue Myrick testified to how impressed she was by the staff at NCMA and the extraordinary work they have done. As the bill's sponsor, Rep Myrick hopes to have this bill acted on before the August recess. That will require some significant input from the public to get the bill marked up and voted on. If only the other members of Arizona's congressional delegation would follow the lead of Congressman Ed Pastor and add their names to the growing list of cosponsors to HR 423.
Posted at: July 17, 2008 8:03 PM