Alabama Missing Children

When a child goes missing in Alabama, three systems start at once: the local police or sheriff who takes the report, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which runs the state's missing person clearinghouse and its AMBER Alert plan, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which can post the case nationally with the family's or the police's permission. Alabama has no waiting period to report a missing child, and federal law requires the report to be entered into the FBI's national database within two hours.

Alabama also issues Emergency Missing Child Alerts for cases that do not meet the strict AMBER criteria, so a child who wandered off or ran away can still be publicized statewide.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

• ALEA Community Information CenterMissing persons, AMBER Alert, fugitive and sex offender searches
• Alabama Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Alabama Amber AlertsChild Abduction Alert
• NCMEC missing child searchNational search of missing child posters
• Missing Children in AlabamaAlabama Law Enforcement Agency missing children search
• What To Do If Your Child is MissingReference Guide
• Report a Sighting of a Missing ChildMissing Child Report
• Alabama Attorney General's Office

Alabama's AMBER Alert plan is administered by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. The local agency asks ALEA to issue an alert when a child under 18 has been abducted, is believed to be in danger of serious harm or death, and enough descriptive information exists about the child, the abductor or a vehicle to help the public. ALEA sends the alert to broadcasters, to the wireless emergency alert system that reaches compatible phones on the carriers' networks in the area, to highway message signs and to the state's lottery terminals and social media, and cancels it when the child is found.

• Alabama Law Enforcement AgencyALEA missing alerts and CodeRED sign up for missing person alerts

The Alabama Missing Persons clearinghouse inside ALEA maintains the state's list of missing children and adults, posts photos and case details online, and coordinates with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on cases involving a child. Report a missing child to the local police department or county sheriff first, ask for the case number and confirm the entry into the National Crime Information Center, then call the National Center, which assigns a case manager, produces posters and can send its Team Adam consultants to help local agencies.

• ALEA missing persons searchMissing children and adults reported in Alabama
• Alabama Police DepartmentsCity police departments that take missing child reports
• Alabama County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices for all 67 counties
• Alabama Most WantedFugitives and outstanding warrants

Alabama's Emergency Missing Child Alert covers children who are missing under circumstances that suggest danger but without evidence of abduction, and ALEA distributes it to media and online without the wireless alert. The state's Missing and Endangered Person Alert covers adults with dementia or disabilities, and the Blue Alert covers suspects who have injured or killed a law enforcement officer. Case records stay with the investigating agency, and Alabama's public records law makes basic case information public while investigative files can be withheld until a case is resolved. A case that stays open can be added by the investigating agency to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, NamUs, and the public can search the entries the agency chooses to publish.

• NamUsNational database of missing and unidentified persons, searchable by the public
• Alabama Criminal RecordsCriminal history and court records in Alabama

• National Center for Missing & Exploited ChildrenMissing child posters, reports and the CyberTipline
• AMBER Alert, U.S. Department of JusticeHow AMBER Alerts work and who issues them
• NISMART, national studies of missing childrenDepartment of Justice research on missing children