National Child Identification Program

PROJECT PURPOSE

The National Child Identification Program is a community service initiative dedicated to reducing the number of missing children by providing parents and guardians with a tool they can use to help protect their children. The ID Kit allows parents to collect specific information by easily recording the physical characteristics and fingerprints of their children on identification cards that are then kept at home by the parent or guardian. If ever needed, this ID Kit will give authorities vital information to assist their efforts to locate a missing child.

EVIDENCE

Children in the United States go missing every minute and having all the information needed by authorities saved by the parents can make the difference in locating a child and bringing them home quickly and safely. Since 1997, NCIP has distributed ID kits throughout the U.S. that have aided in the identification of missing children through fingerprint and DNA technology. Personal information is never stored by NCIP so there is not a current notification system if a kit is used to locate a child, however year after year law enforcement and forward thinking parents have requested kits in the event of the unimaginable.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

National Child ID Program serves all children regardless of race or ethnicity with the goal of bringing every child reported missing home safely. In the United States nearly 40% of all missing persons are people of color but are a much smaller portion of the overall population, and in 2020 over 140,000 children of color went missing. Funding for ID kits would serve all minority communities in the state of Oklahoma and statistically providing ID kits to minority communities could significantly decreased the number of unidentified minority children who are never located due to inadequate access to resources and information.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Historically, the National Child ID Program has worked with the State Department of Education and local school districts to administer ID kits to school age children to ensure that all children have access to this potentially lifesaving kit. This has been fully funded for Kindergarten in 26 states to bring abducted and run-away children home. Oklahoma previously partnered with National Child ID Program in 2010 to distribute approximately 365,000 kits. Our request today would cover all K-12 Oklahoma public school students.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma