The state of Texas signed Bill no. 2158 into law, in 2021, implementing the Child Identification Program.
Now, many school districts in Texas are starting to hand out DNA kits to families of public elementary school-aged kids.
The law makes it mandatory for the Texas Education Agency to provide DNA kits to parents of public elementary school students to assist in identifying their children if an emergency occurs.
Parents can also just ask for the kits for their elementary-aged child or their older children. They then would need to give them to law enforcement to locate a missing or trafficked child.
“They’re inkless fingerprint kits. It looks just like a letter in an envelope sent home. It has all the instructions laid out for them…we hope they never have to use these kits,” states one head official in Killen ISD.
The Texas Education Agency has teamed up with different organizations like the Safety Blitz Foundation, the National Child Identification Program, Education Service Centers, and others to deliver these kits.
For almost 25 years, the National Child Identification Program has been in existence.
“We’ve worked with the state of Texas almost 25 years. It’s been overwhelmingly a success until, because of the timing I believe, you got some people who are questioning it. But the ID kit is for no other reason than to help parents locate a missing or a human trafficked child,” said the CEO of the National Child ID program.
Since 1997, the National Child ID Program has given out more than 70 million kits in North America.
