Who Gets An AMBER Alert?
Behind the urgency of the national alert system lies a set of selective rules, and not ever child's case qualifies.
Most people think they understand the AMBER Alert. A child goes missing, police are notified, and in minutes, phones buzz across the local area with details meant to bring them home. It feels like a promise that if your child is taken, the system will respond loudly and quickly.
However, that isn’t guaranteed. Families often ask why their child didn’t receive an alert, and why some names trigger an all-points bulletin while others are met with silence.
The truth is, the AMBER Alert system isn’t automatic. It has specific, and sometimes rigid, rules.
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What Is The AMBER Alert?
The AMBER Alert was born out of a 1996 tragedy. That year, nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted and murdered in Arlington, Texas. Her case shook a community and, following a massive response, a nation.
Later, law enforcement and broadcasters partnered to create a rapid response system designed to mobilize the public in real time during child abduction cases. “AMBER” stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response,” though the name is always tethered to Amber herself.
When used, the alert communicates information via radio, television, highway signs, social media, and wireless emergency notifications. The idea is that the more eyes looking, the greater the chance of a safe recovery.
Further, the system relies on coordination among local law enforcement, state emergency management, broadcasters, and federal agencies such as the Department of Justice.
Still, the keyword is coordination, not obligation. Just because a child is reported missing doesn’t mean this system will be activated. There are rules, requirements, and discretion. And that discretion has consequences.
The Official Criteria
Have you ever come across a missing person case about a child and questioned why it wasn’t labeled as an AMBER Alert? Admittedly, I initially didn’t understand the standards, but soon found out that it has a pretty tight checklist, mapped out via federal guidelines.
These rules are meant to prevent overuse and ensure alerts are taken seriously. Though they also leave very little room for nuance, and that, unfortunately, is where real life lives.
Law enforcement must confirm an abduction.
There has to be evidence or a clear indication that the child was taken, not simply missing.The child must be under a certain age.
Most states say under 17. A few stretch it to 18, but either way, adults are excluded.The child must be in serious danger.
Law enforcement has to believe the child faces grave harm or death. That risk cannot be assumed; it has to be evident.There must be enough usable information.
This could be a vehicle description, the name of a suspect, or a direction of travel. If there’s nothing actionable to share with the public, the alert isn’t triggered.The case must be entered into the NCIC.
That’s the National Crime Information Center database. If the child isn’t in the system, the alert won’t go out.
What This Means in Practice
Here’s what that checklist doesn’t say: it doesn’t account for children who run away from abusive homes. It doesn’t make space for those who disappear under unclear circumstances. It doesn’t move for a teenager in danger who hasn’t technically been “taken.”
When a child goes missing but there’s no witness, no video, no sign of forced entry, and no immediate proof of abduction, there may be no alert. And when that child is Black and lives with food insecurity or is homeless, has had previous behavioral issues, or comes from a working-class family, the assumptions made by law enforcement can shape the entire response. Missing becomes “probably ran away.” Vulnerable becomes “not urgent.”
And again, the alert relies on coordination between agencies, but there’s no law requiring them to issue one. It’s a choice, and choices are often shaped by perception and by who the system was built to believe in.
Who Gets Left Out & What Needs to Change
Across the country, Black children go missing and are met with silence. They are often labeled as runaways, even when the family insists otherwise. When that tag is applied, it typically disqualifies them from receiving an AMBER Alert. The system isn’t built to pause and consider context. It’s built to check boxes, and they weren’t always made with every child in mind.
The alert system’s reliance on strict abduction criteria leaves out many of the most vulnerable, including kids caught in unstable homes, children preyed upon online, and those exploited or groomed. It also leaves far too much room for racial bias in deciding who seems “in danger enough.”
Solutions exist. Broader alert systems, like the Ebony Alert in California or proposed reforms to include endangered children without proof of abduction, are a start. Law enforcement training on bias and trauma could shift how risk is assessed. Also, public awareness matters. If people know the criteria, they can ask better questions when a child is reported missing.
At the heart of it all is the belief that every child deserves the same urgency. If that belief isn’t shared by the people who run the system, then the system needs to change.
No child should be left behind simply because their disappearance doesn’t fit a script, and no family should have to wonder whether the system saw their child as worth saving.
They are our sisters, and their lives matter.