Executive Director, National Child ID Program, a community service initiative designed to help protect America’s youth and change statistics related to missing children
GUEST BIO
New Initiatives to Keep Kids Safe
By
The 700 Club
CBN.com-MISSING LOVED ONES
In 1997, the National Child ID Program launched as a community service iniatitive designed to help protect America’s youth. At the time, less than 2% of parents had a record of their child’s fingerprints. The program’s fingerprint ID kit provides parents and guardians with a clean, convenient way to record their child’s fingerprints and physical characteristics on a card they keep at home. The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) became involved to help increase awareness. “What better way to hand out the fingerprint kits than at a football game or stadium?” says Kenny. In 2001, the FBI joined in partnership.
When the program was initially launched, over 12,000 ID kits were given out at the West Virginia/Miami football game. That year, more than 1 million kits were distributed at NCAA Division I-A college campuses. In 1998, the program expanded to the NFL and all NCAA divisions. Since its inception, more than 4.2 million kits have been given out at NFL and college stadiums around the United States. More than 30 million ID kits have been distributed over the last 11 years with a goal of protecting the 60 million children in this country.
A FAITH-BASED SAFETY INITIATIVE
Kenny says Bishop T.D. Jakes recently got involved with them as part of a faith-based family safety initiative. When an order is placed for a minimum of 100 kits, Bishop Jakes will match the contribution kit for kit up to a million kits. Bishop Jakes knew it would have helped with his late mother who suffered with Alzheimer's. If an adult goes missing, the information is also helpful in those situations. The Catholic Church will assist in handing out 1 million kits in Mexico when they secure a sponsor. The kits are helpful against the fight in human trafficking. Kenny says neighboring Mexico has the largest incidents of human trafficking crimes in the world. “I believe God has given us a platform,” says Kenny. “Now we can take our best tool and use it” in this way.
“Using these kits give a mother and father a sense of power,” he says. One girl in Texas ran away. When she went missing, she was reported by her parents as a runaway and her info was scanned into a database. Later, the girl shoplifted and was arrested. After running her fingerprints, the police determined that she was a runaway and reunited her with her family. Another situation involved a father who abducted his own young son. He told the son his mother was killed in a car wreck. When the boy turned 16, he went to DMV to get his license. Authorities were called when they ran the boy’s fingerprints and they determined he had been abducted years earlier.
Please visit www.childidprogram.com. Kits are $9.95 each. For 10 - 49 kits, the cost is reduced to $7.20 each. For more than 50 - 99, the cost is $6.00 each. For more than 100 – 5,000 , kits are $4.95 each.
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