Anyone ever used this service, they are coming to my son's preschool this week.

Yep, the local school district does it in elementary school. I used to do children's fingerprints when the post did kids id's like this. Take pity on the person doing the prints.

Alternative technique -
1, allow children to play outside in dirt.
2, Let them into a room with clean painted walls or white furniture.
3, All the finger prints you could want ...

"The Ident-A-Kid card is a driver's license-like card that contains a child’s photograph, fingerprint and description. Parents keep the card with them at all times and, in an emergency, can provide law enforcement with crucial information for immediate response."

I am underwhelmed.

Just how does this "protect" kids? It isn't going to stop anything from happening, or induce intelligence or responsibility into parents.

Isn't it just a convenient way to help identify the body?

Cynical Sue

I agree with Cynical Sue. I wonder about the track record of Ident-A-Kit and if it has even resulted in the identification of a child who wasn't already identified.

I've sat and thought and thought and thought about these kinds of things and I have come to the conclusion that they are fear-mongering nonsense.

What, specifically, do you think a fingerprint is going to do to make your kid any safer?

What, specifically, can a fingerprint do to prevent an abduction?

What, specifically, can a fingerprint do AFTER an abduction?

Or are we just training our kids to line up at the table when the "authorities" demand it to submit to registration in an identity database? Why not just go for the blood at birth and create a national DNA database. That's where this stuff leads.

Let's look at some recent - horrific - abduction cases and see where forensic "science" helped to crack them. Ummm....that's NOWHERE. Because all a fingerprint might help with is to identify a body. That's it. It's not going to prevent anything, it's not going to solve anything any faster. It's just TV shows making us think that this is the "right thing to do".

I don't know if they've changed it, but I remember seeing an Identakid card back about 10 years ago or so. It had one little id-card size picture of the kids face (maybe 1"x1") and one fingerprint. Just about as basic as one can get.

If something happened to my kid(s) I would sure as **** give them something a bit more than a 1 inch square picture and a single fingerprint. I'd give whatever I had that could help. If I've got detailed face pictures, full body pictures, a full set of fingerprints, their latest height and weight, pictures with them wearing the same clothing they were wearing when they disappeared, ect.......they're getting it.

If anything, I think it would probably be better to carry around a multiple good wallet size photos with descriptive information written on the back (name, age, size, weight, ect). That way, you can hand them out to the first officers or search personnel on scene and they can get right to looking for your kid. The faster they can get to looking for him/her, the better.

I agree, it might help you have "closure" when they identify the body.

Someone posted a good idea - when you go somewhere with you kids (amusement park, etc.) take a photo of them at the start with the camera you're carrying anyway so that if they get lost you can show exactly what they look like that day in the same clothes, etc.

"... are we just training our kids to line up at the table when the 'authorities' demand it to submit to registration in an identity database?"

Thank you, Marty! I was feeling the same way, but thinking people here are tired of my cynicism, and my mention of the training of the Hitler Youth might be mistaken as political...

Control may be one thing, but MONEY is the other guiding light.

"An Ident-A-Kid franchise is only $24,900 and includes all necessary equipment, supplies, and initial inventory."

http://www.ident-a-kid.com/franchise/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15

Just one question... do they charge the parents or the school?

Sue

Likely the school board pays, which is you via property taxes.