PROTECTING AMERICA'S CHILDREN A Demand for Dedicated Funding and Specialized Agency Authority June 2026 • to be Submitted to Members of the U.S. Congress upon the receipt of 500,000 signatures Child exploitation — encompassing sexual abuse, trafficking, forced labor, and online predation — constitutes one of the most severe and underaddressed crises in the United States today. Current federal infrastructure is fragmented across at least five major agencies, chronically underfunded relative to the scale of the problem, and structurally incapable of the coordinated, survivor-centered response that victims deserve. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 36.2 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation material in 2023 alone — a tenfold increase over the previous decade. The FBI's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigated more than 39,000 cases in fiscal year 2022. Youth aging out of foster care face trafficking risk within 48 hours of system exit in many contexts. Online platforms reported approximately 88.3 million CSEM files to NCMEC in 2023 — yet face no criminal liability for systemic failures. These numbers represent the documented floor, not the ceiling. The true scale remains unknown because detection and reporting systems are inadequate. Traffickers and online predators exploit jurisdictional seams routinely. The current system produces gaps, delays, and duplicated effort across the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, and state and local agencies — with no single authority holding unified mandate. Chronic Underfunding: The primary federal vehicle for combating online child exploitation — the ICAC Task Force Program — received approximately $73 million in federal funding in FY2024. By contrast, the federal government spends more than $50 billion annually on drug enforcement. This disparity reflects a profound misalignment between stated national values and actual resource allocation. Survivor services remain insufficient and poorly coordinated with law enforcement. CORE POSITION: The fragmented, underfunded status quo is itself a policy choice — one that places children at continued risk. We call on Congress to treat child exploitation not as a line item in a broader crime budget, but as a stand-alone national emergency requiring dedicated institutional authority and guaranteed funding. OUR LEGISLATIVE DEMANDS We call upon the United States Congress to enact the following measures within the current legislative term: • Dedicated Federal Agency — Establish by statute a Child Exploitation Prevention and Response Authority (CEPRA) with unified investigative mandate across all forms of child exploitation, prosecutorial coordination with DOJ and state authorities, survivor services integration, online platform compliance oversight with audit and referral authority, comprehensive research and national data registry functions, and international coordination with Interpol and foreign partners. • Ring-Fenced Funding — Appropriate no less than $1 billion annually in dedicated, nonredirectable funding for child exploitation prevention, investigation, prosecution, and survivor restoration. This funding must be protected from annual budget negotiations to ensure sustained, accountable investment. • Data Sharing Mandate & Platform Accountability — Require real-time information sharing between child welfare, law enforcement, courts, and schools, with enforceable penalties for non-compliance. Remove Section 230 immunity for platforms that knowingly host or fail to report CSEM, with criminal liability for executive officers of non-compliant platforms. • Foster Care Protections & Survivor Standards — Mandate trafficking-awareness training for all foster care workers and placement families. Require follow-up services for all youth exiting state care. Establish by federal law a minimum standard of care for exploitation survivors, including trauma-informed housing, mental health services, and long-term case management. THE CASE FOR A DEDICATED AGENCY The creation of a dedicated Child Exploitation Prevention and Response Authority (CEPRA) — or equivalent Cabinet-level interagency structure — is not merely an administrative preference. It reflects a principled judgment that child exploitation is categorically distinct from general crime and requires institutional architecture to match. Congress has previously demonstrated the capacity to create mission-specific agencies in response to crisis: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was established within two months of the September 11 attacks; the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) was established to address a single category of financial crime. Children deserve no less. We further call for robust accountability mechanisms: annual public reporting to Congress with clear outcome metrics (investigations, prosecutions, survivors served, platform compliance); independent Inspector General oversight; a biennial Congressional review trigger with sunset provisions for underperforming structures; and a survivor advisory council with substantive input authority over policy and program design. OUR DEMAND We are not asking Congress to study this problem. The studies exist. We are not asking for a pilot program or a working group. The children whose lives are being stolen cannot wait for another legislative cycle. We are demanding legislative action — specific, funded, enforceable, and immediate — that matches the gravity of the crisis with the weight of institutional response. PROVERBS 24:11-12 "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?" A nation is judged by how it protects its most vulnerable. The measure of our commitment to children is not found in the words of our legislation but in the resources we are willing to commit and the institutions we are willing to build. We will hold every signatory of this petition — and every elected official who receives it — accountable for the distance between word and action. PROTECTING CHILDREN IS NOT A POLITICAL POSITION. IT IS A MORAL OBLIGATION. Sign this petition. Demand that Congress act now. To add your organization's endorsement or to join the coalition effort: [contact email daviddeforrest48@gmail.com