HOM And Local Police Launch Child Id Project

By Andrew Gorosko

Police and school officials hope that a little booklet that parents will be keeping close at hand provides a big benefit in the unfortunate event that a Head O’ Meadow School student becomes lost, is missing, or is abducted.

At the request of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association, town police have provided “Kids ID” booklets for more than 570 Head O’ Meadow School students. The eight-page booklets, created by the Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association, provide a convenient way for parents to list and keep vital information on their children for fast reference by police in the event children need to be found, said Dana Schubert, who is the police department’s youth officer.

The emergency information booklets are small enough to fit into a shirt pocket.

Clearly recognizable, dated identification photos of the children provided by the school will be attached to the booklets, Officer Schubert said. Quickly obtaining such booklets from parents saves the police valuable time in mounting a search for a missing child, he said. 

The booklet provides detailed information which would prove useful in a search for a missing child, such as name, date of birth, height, weight, hair color, eye color, blood type, address, telephone number, place of birth, social security number, mother’s and father’s names, the child’s nicknames, medical conditions, medications, allergies, and doctor’s and dentist’s names and telephone numbers. The booklet contains specific information that would be helpful in a search, such as whether a child has braces or eyeglasses, eye disorders, or pierced ears. Also, information is included on hair length, medical devices, dental history, medical deformities, marks, scars, and other physical characteristics.

Also, a child’s hair sample can be attached to the booklet to provide police with DNA reference material, Officer Schubert said. Such samples must include hair roots to be useful, he said.

The identification booklet is a parent’s best defense when a child is lost or missing, greatly aiding police in seeking the child, according to the police officers association.

The booklet can be kept in an automobile glove box, so that it can be easily retrieved in the event of an emergency, Officer Schubert said.

The Head O’ Meadow School project marks the first time that such child identification booklets have been distributed in Newtown, he said. The Boggs Hill Road school has children in Kindergarten through Grade 5.

The Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association of Connecticut, Inc., is a non-profit educational organization of law enforcement personnel and others in the criminal justice system. The Wallingford-based association, which was formed in 1968, works to inform police and the general public about substance abuse and the use of narcotics and dangerous drugs.