Available services vary with each AMECO member agency.  These nonprofit member agencies will act as a liason between families, law enforcement, media, civic/corporate organizations and volunteer search resources. Services may include:

Case Management
Most AMECO member agencies provide a case manager for families searching for a missing child or young adult.  The case manager acts as a liason to assist familes of missing and exploited children in areas such as poster development and distribution, search resource needs, volunteer recruitment and/or coordination, media outreach, reward assistance and search planning and implementation.  Many agencies can provide or recommend reunification assistance once the child or teen is recovered. 

Public Awareness and Education
Many AMECO agencies provide education and training programs designed to prevent children from being exploited or going missing. With the increased use of the Internet, parents, schools and care providers must learn all they can do to prevent children and teens from harmful behaviors within otherwise safe environments. AMECO members often partner with the local Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICACs) to teach online and personal safety to the community at large, law enforcement officers and many other professionals or government workers.  

Volunteer Search Resources & Alert Systems
AMECO agencies may assist in volunteer search efforts by assisting with volunteer coordination, mass public alerts via telephone or when an A.M.B.E.R. Alert is initiatied by local law enforcement in the most severe missing child or teen cases.  Often times, a secondary alert system is used to notify the public that their help is needed in identifying a missing child or suspected abductor when the criteria for an A.M.B.E.R. Alert has not been met.

Advocacy: Public Policy & Media
AMECO members often participate in public policy discussion with legislation that will impact the safety and well being of children under 18 years of age. AMECO mebers were instrumental in assisting policy makers in passing both state and federal A.M.B.E.R. Plans and often recommend safety education that is taught within the schools, faith-based community, day care centers and within the home. 

Networking & Professional Best Practice Sharing
Each year, two annual training conferences are held to provide a platform for AMECO members to discuss and share best practices with each other, with the National Center for MIssing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

Last edited on Friday, July 8, 2006.