Our system mirrors many of today’s child ID programs but with a marked difference.

Kid-ID is electronically based with specially developed computer software that collects all the pertinent information about the child. The following information is collected: digital photo, electronic fingerprint, and DNA collection sampling system. This important information can be sent to any law enforcement agency across the nation in just a push of a button. Kid-ID saves valuable time that can help in the recovery of a child. In fact, we have ID’d well over 20,000 children already!

Ed Smart said he wishes he would have known about the DNA kits before his daughter Elizabeth was kidnapped from her Utah bedroom in June 2002. She was found alive nine months later. He said investigators took boxes of her belongings to find her DNA and did not get a sample back for weeks. Having the sample ready could have narrowed down suspects faster. "It is kind of like an insurance policy you hope you never use," he said.

"It's the CSI mentality: that DNA is going to be the answer to any problem that comes up," said Jerry Nance, supervisor of the forensic assistance unit of the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Craig Webre, first vice president of the National Sheriffs' Association, said DNA collection could become standard within the next decade.