Montana Missing Children

A missing child in Montana is reported to the city police, the county sheriff or, on the reservations, the tribal police or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Montana Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation coordinates the case, issues AMBER Alerts and keeps the Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can post the case on its national site as well, but only after the police enter it in the FBI's database and the family or the agency gives permission. There is no waiting period.

Montana has built more programs than most states for missing Indigenous people, who make up a large share of its missing persons list. Hanna's Act, passed in 2019 and named for Hanna Harris of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, created a missing persons specialist in the Department of Justice, and the state later added a Missing Indigenous Person Alert.

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

• NCMEC missing child searchNational search of missing child posters
• Missing children from Montana, NCMECNCMEC case search for children missing from Montana
• Montana Missing Persons ClearinghouseMissing Children Clearinghouse
• Montana Amber Alert Program
• Missing and Endangered Person AdvisoryMissing Person Advisory
• What To Do If Your Child Is MissingMissing Children Assistance
• Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task ForceInternet Safety
• Child Abduction PreventionDepartment of Justice
• Missing Kids in MontanaMontana Missing Kids

The Montana Department of Justice activates an AMBER Alert at the request of the investigating agency when a child under 18 has been abducted, is believed to be in danger of serious harm or death, and there is enough information about the child, the abductor or a vehicle to help the public. The alert reaches radio and television through the Emergency Alert System, phones through the wireless emergency alert system, and the Montana Department of Transportation highway signs, and it is shared with the neighboring states and the Canadian provinces when a border crossing is possible. Distances in Montana are long, so alerts often cover the whole state rather than a region.

• Montana Department of JusticeAMBER Alert and Missing Indigenous Person Alert activations and the Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse

The Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse in the Division of Criminal Investigation keeps the statewide file of missing children and adults, posts a public listing with photos, coordinates with the National Center and NamUs, and its missing persons specialist works directly with tribal police and families on reservation cases. Make the report to the city police, the county sheriff or the tribal police and write down the case number. In Montana, confirm the entry into the National Crime Information Center, then call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which can assign a case manager. Billings, Missoula and Great Falls police have their own detectives for missing children.

• Montana Police DepartmentsCity police departments that take missing child reports
• Montana County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices for all 56 counties
• Montana Most WantedFugitives and outstanding warrants

Montana's Missing Indigenous Person Alert is issued for a missing Native person of any age when the circumstances are dangerous, and the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force created by the Looping In Native Communities Act works on the gap between tribal, federal and state reporting. The state also runs an endangered missing person advisory and a Silver Alert for seniors with cognitive impairment. Case records stay with the investigating agency, and on reservations they may sit with the tribe or the FBI rather than the state. Under Montana's constitutional right to know, basic case facts are public while confidential criminal justice information can be withheld. For a Montana case that stays open, the investigating agency can enter it in NamUs, the national missing persons database, where entries are reviewed and published with the agency's approval and can then be searched by anyone.

• NamUsNational database of missing and unidentified persons
• Montana Criminal RecordsCriminal history and court records in Montana

• 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