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These kids went missing for years. Why experts say parental abductions need attention.

USA Today
Summary
Nutrition label

81% Informative

Chase Desormeaux says his ex-wife absconded with his two young sons in June .

He hasn't seen or heard from the boys since they got back from vacation with their mother.

Nearly 1,200 cases of missing children reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2023 were family abductions.

More than 3,000 children abducted by family were taken out of the U.S. between 2008 and 2017 .

International abductions were more likely to last longer or go unresolved entirely, group says.

Even when a missing child is located, parents still have to jump through legal hoops to get them back.

VR Score

82

Informative language

82

Neutral language

20

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

50

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not offensive

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not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

20

https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/2037781/1https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/06/kidnapped-boy-found-unsolved-mysteries-netflix/81726004007/https://www.netflix.com/title/81026055https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/30/missing-kids-parental-abductions-need-more-attention/82513224007/https://dcsheriff.net/douglas-county-sheriffs-deputies-on-trespassing-call-uncover-high-profile-kidnapping-case-rescue-boy-missing-for-seven-years/https://x.com/OfficialOPLive/status/1898174017271742911https://www.instagram.com/ncmec/p/DHTQLrbOxv-/?img_index=1https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2023/02/23/amber-alert-missing-children-usa-today-data-analysis-finds-kids-rarely-helped/11089397002/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/17/child-deaths-during-custody-battles/70383774007/https://www.usatoday.com/staff/72107594007/julia-gomez/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/17/kayla-unbehaun-unsolved-mystery-found-unsolved-mysteries-netflix-series/70228053007/https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/2037781/2https://profile.usatoday.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=microsoftnews&utm_campaign=dailybriefing&utm_content=inlinearticlehttps://dnasolves.com/articles/new-haven-ct-andrea-reyes-1999/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/12/connecticut-woman-arrested-stepson-captivity/82343329007/https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/ncmec-analysis/Family%20Abductions%202008-2017_EXTERNAL.pdfhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/10/andrea-reyes-connecticut-dna/82227140007/https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-child-abduction-prevention-and-return-acthttps://www.usatoday.com/staff/2648427001/ken-alltucker/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/12/what-happened-hannah-kobayashi-public-police-may-never-know/76944337007/

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