U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Donald Norcross introduced the National Child Identification Act, H.R. 1764, which aids law enforcement by encouraging parents and guardians to proactively collect and store their children’s sensitive identification information at home. When DNA samples are stored safely at home, law enforcement officers can spend the first hours during a missing-person case searching for the child, rather than searching for the child’s DNA samples.
“As a former FBI agent, I know first hand that when a child goes missing, every single second counts in the search to bring them home,” Fitzpatrick said. “Having the necessary DNA samples ready on standby enables our law enforcement to spend their invaluable time tracking down a child’s location, not their fingerprints. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation with Congressman Norcross to provide the millions of parents, guardians and law enforcement across the nation the necessary tools they need to protect our children.”
The National Child Identification Act helps expand upon an existing initiative that provides child identification kits to parents and guardians. The bill creates a grant program to support attorneys general with the resources to provide identification kits to the parents of every kindergarten and elementary school student. Additionally, the legislation helps law enforcement by ensuring parents have a child’s identification information immediately available for investigators.
Originally recognized by Congress in 2001, the National Child Identification Program is a community-service initiative that partners with labor organizations, NFL teams, businesses and law enforcement to provide parents and guardians with child identification kits.
