As advocates gathered to remember children who have gone missing, legislators and law enforcement said they would continue to fight to try to make sure it doesn't happen to more children in Massachusetts.

The Molly Bish Center hosted the 19th annual Missing Children's Day, which included a slideshow with the names of 96 Massachusetts children who remain missing, some of whom were last seen as far back as the late 1960s.

The director of the Molly Bish Center, Ann Marie Mires, said the organization supported several bills to address issues concerning missing children, including a bill that would explicitly outlaw attempting to entice a child into a vehicle (H 1362), one that would establish statewide protocols for when a child is reported missing and require training for veteran police officers (H 2137), another that would require law enforcement to accept all missing persons reports immediately and outline what information must be collected (H 2132), and lastly, a bill that would expand the state DNA database (S 1457).

"I promise you that as a mother and as a legislator I will fight for the safety of our children every single day," said Senate President Karen Spilka. "I promise to work to build a Commonwealth where no parent can experience or must experience the nightmare of losing a child."

The Molly Bish Center is named for the 16 year old who was abducted from Warren in 2000. Her remains were recovered in 2003, in nearby Palmer, and her parents turned to activism, founding the first Missing Children's Day in Massachusetts.

"From their loss came the advocacy to fight for the rights of the missing and to make public the outcry that no one should ever wonder what has happened to their children or to their siblings," Mires said.