From Missouri to Utah, parents are learning that it never hurts to be too cautious. Last year’s infamous Michael Devlin kidnapping and child abuse case has spurred a resurgence of child identification database and ID card creation in Missouri, where Devlin held Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby captive in his Kirkwood, MO apartment. While Hornbeck and Ownby were fortunate enough to escape with their lives, the abuse they suffered has left parents wondering what they can do to protect their children—or, at the very least, help get them home safely and quickly—from the nightmare of child abduction.

Enter the Missouri Child Identification & Protection Program (MoCHIP), a free organization that provides parents with their child’s ID card and a mini-disc containing a copy of their fingerprints and digital photographs. The minidisc is compatible with the Amber Alert system (a nationwide alert that goes out whenever a child goes missing) so that law enforcement officials have that information already on hand. Children also bite down on a dental “wafer” that seals the child’s DNA in a plastic casing. So far, MoCHIP has prepared these ID kits for more than 36,000 Missouri children, and its popularity is expected to increase as more parents become aware that the free service exists.
Meanwhile, across the country, the Rotary Club of American Fork, Utah recently raised the funds to launch a similar program to create free Amber Alert Child IDs for parents whose missing children may have been abducted and are facing imminent danger. In an emergency, parents should call police and give the 14-digit number on their child’s card, which helps save precious seconds. Distressed parents may not be in the right condition to give information on a child’s appearance, but with the Amber Alert Child ID system, police can use the number to look up a child’s information and begin the search as fast as possible. All work is voluntary, and they are currently raising money to ID as many local children as possible.