To California lawmakers, the California POST Commission, law enforcement agencies (LAPD/LASD/RCSD), DCFS/CPS, trafficking task forces, and designated Los Angeles and Riverside County officials:

We demand mandatory statewide intervention protocols for repeat runaway minors identified as high-risk for exploitation, trafficking, grooming, or abuse.

A child repeatedly going missing should never be treated as a routine runaway case until tragedy happens. Each disappearance is a potential sign of escalating danger, and repeat runaway minors are significantly more vulnerable to trafficking, exploitation, abuse, and predatory relationships.

We are calling for:
- automatic DCFS/CPS cross-reporting for repeat runaway minors,
- mandatory “high-risk runaway” classification,
- follow-up investigations when a runaway minor is repeatedly linked to a known adult,
- mandatory coordination between law enforcement, DCFS/CPS, and trafficking units,
- follow-up welfare checks after prior contact with adults housing or communicating with runaway minors,
- parent resource packets explaining grooming/trafficking warning signs and emergency escalation options,
- independent audits of missing-child protocol compliance,
- and public transparency reports on high-risk missing minor cases.

This petition is not asking for expanded mass surveillance, unlimited police powers, or a new bureaucracy. California already has these systems and taxpayer funding in place.

We are simply demanding enforceable standards, transparency, accountability, and basic follow-up procedures for agencies already responsible for protecting vulnerable minors.

If existing protocols were sufficient, cases like Celeste’s should not keep happening. If protocols were ignored, agencies must be held accountable. And if the protocols themselves are weak, then the law must change.