Wisconsin School-Aged Children to Receive Fingerprint ID Kit

Tuesday, March 1st, 2022 -- 9:00 AM

(WBAY) Starting in April, every school-aged child in Wisconsin will be sent home from school with a new tool to keep them safe.

It’s called a fingerprint ID kit, and it contains basic identifying information about a child that can be given to police quickly if they go missing. The kit includes a document to record height, weight, and a place to put a picture. It even has room for a DNA sample and fingerprints if needed by authorities.

Every year 800,000 kids go missing in the United States, which turns out to be one every 40 seconds. A total of 975,000 kits will be sent out to kids’ homes year, thanks to a partnership between the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office, the Green Bay Packers, Alliant Energy, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Each kit costs about $2.83. The funding for Wisconsin’s kits is a result of this partnership. Wisconsin will be the third state in the U.S. to distribute ID kits to all school-age children.

The National Child ID Program will work with schools, both private and public, to distribute the kits starting in April. Parents are advised to watch for the ID kit and update it every year, especially height, weight, and picture.

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