Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a 20-state coalition in support of making funding available through any federal agency to support House Resolution 4172 (the National Child ID Act) in order to help parents, guardians and law enforcement better protect children from exploitation, abduction and human trafficking. By setting aside specific funds in the next stimulus package for the Child ID Program through the newly introduced National Child ID Act, each state would be afforded the opportunity to request grant funding to purchase kits for children from kindergarten through sixth grade at the cost of just $1.76 per child. The cost for protecting approximately 30 million grade school students across the nation is just below $52 million.
“Children are the most precious and most vulnerable members of our communities. Ensuring that parents and law enforcement have immediate, accurate, and comprehensive identification information is a key factor to speedy investigations and recovering missing children,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Funding this Act is not just helpful, it is a necessity to ensure children’s safety.”
The Child ID Kit allows parents to collect specific information by easily recording the physical characteristics, fingerprints and DNA of their child on identification cards that are then kept at home by the parent or guardian. No outside group collects, monitors or has access to the data unless parents choose to share it during an emergency. If ever needed, the Child ID Kit will give authorities vital information to assist their efforts to locate a missing child.
Read a copy of the letter here.