In the last decades, the disappearance of children has acquired in the West an unprecedented political visibility. The cause of “missing children”, a category that includes, inter alia, kidnappings, parental abductions and runaways, has namely become the main raison d’être of many NGOs and also raises growing concerns within States. Based on an enquiry among professionals, this article interrogates the logic that underpins the remarkable rise of this new public cause. Following the actors’ arguments as close as possible and locating the trajectory of “missing children” within the context of the transformations of our relations to childhood, life and death, the article shows, in particular, that in the name of the protection of children’s bodily integrity and of their parents’ health, this cause contributes to depoliticize the public space and to legitimize arrangements aimed at governing people’s lives.