The abducted child must be 17 years of age or younger or currently enrolled in a secondary school in the commonwealth, regardless of age, and the reporting law enforcement agency believes the child has been abducted (unwillingly taken from their environment without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian).

Virginia State Police are pushing back against a wave of social media posts claiming there has been a spike in mass child abductions across the Commonwealth, saying there is no evidence to support those claims.

Virginia State Police addressed viral social media discussion about significant numbers of missing children being reported in the state.