About This Stamp
Affirming its long-standing commitment to help find missing children, the U.S. Postal Service® issues this stamp to make members of the public more aware of the ways they can assist—and to offer hope to the families of missing children as they continue their search.
This stamp features a photograph by Harald Biebel showing a small bunch of purple forget-me-nots on the left with a lone flower farther to the right, all of them against a white background. The forget-me-not is the symbol for International Missing Children’s Day, which occurs on the same day as National Missing Children’s Day, May 25. Orange text at the top of the stamp reads “FORGET-ME-NOT,” followed by “FOREVER” and “USA,” each on separate lines in light blue. Text in light blue along the bottom of the stamp reads “HELP FIND MISSING CHILDREN.” A header on the stamp sheet reads “HELP FIND MISSING CHILDREN.” The sheet's verso includes text about the program that delivers materials featuring photos of missing children to millions of American homes.
More than 460,000 reports of missing children were made to law enforcement in the United States in 2014. Fortunately, loved ones have reason for hope: Increased public awareness, training, laws, and technology have led to more missing children coming home now than at any other point in history. For three decades, the U.S. Postal Service has also been honored to help with the search, cooperating with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Valassis Communications, Inc., on a program that features photographs of missing children on advertising materials delivered to millions of American homes. As of May 2015, about 1,900 of the nearly 3,300 children featured on these mailings have been recovered, at least 158 as a direct result of this program.
In addition, the U.S. Postal Service publishes photos and information about missing children in the Postal Bulletin, which adds some 700,000 employees to the search effort.
Ethel Kessler designed this stamp, which is being issued as a Forever® stamp in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Ethel Kessler
Ethel Kessler is an award-winning designer and art director who has worked with corporations, museums, public and private institutions, professional service organizations, and now, the United States Postal Service.
After earning a B.F.A. in visual communications from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kessler worked as a graphic designer and project manager for the exhibits division of the United States Information Agency. Her work was distributed internationally on subjects such as Immigration, Entrepreneurship, Renovation of American Cities, and the Bicentennial of 1976. She was also responsible for exhibits in Morocco, Botswana, and El Salvador.
In 1981, she established Kessler Design, Inc., for which she is creative director and designer. Clients have included the Clinton Government reorganization, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Television, the National Park Service, and the American Institute of Architects.
She has been an art director for the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp development program for more than 25 years. As an art director for USPS, Kessler has been responsible for creating more than 500 stamp designs, including the Breast Cancer Research stamp illustrated by Whitney Sherman. Issued in 1998, the stamp is still on sale and has raised more $98 million for breast cancer research. Other Kessler projects include the popular and highly regarded Nature of America 120 stamp series, a collaboration with nationally acclaimed nature illustrator John Dawson, the 12-year Lunar New Year series with Kam Mak, the American Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes 10 stamps issued in 2003, a 2016 pane of stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and the 2023 stamp honoring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And many, many others.