Fingerprinting children is useful for identification in emergency situations, such as abductions or natural disasters. Cards with copies of the fingerprints can be kept at home and in school records, and electronic copies can be archived with law enforcement. Some view it as an invasion of privacy, while others see it as practical for child protection.
While many people think of fingerprinting as an activity that takes place when booking individuals for specific crimes, the fact is that this approach to identification has many other important functions. Some of these processes have to do with child protection. Here are some of the benefits associated with fingerprinting children, both in terms of day-to-day activities and as a means of identification in emergency situations.
Many communities now support the idea of fingerprinting children as a way of maintaining reliable identification data that can be used in the event the child is missing. Along with eye scans, fingerprints can make it easier to determine the identity of a child who has been abducted and subsequently escaped the abductor. As part of the fingerprint kit, cards that have copies of the fingerprints are given to the parent or caregiver. Sets of these fingerprint ID cards can be kept at home, as well as in your child’s school records. Electronic copies may also be archived with law enforcement through national databases, such as one maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.
Child fingerprinting can also be useful in situations where caregivers and children are separated due to some type of natural disaster. For example, if a flood devastates a community and leaves a child traumatized to the point of incommunicability, authorities can take a series of fingerprints and compare them to fingerprints recorded in the national database. This makes it easier to determine the identity of the child and begin the process of locating and contacting relatives who are likely concerned about the missing child.
Similarly, fingerprinting children can be very useful when parents and children are separated during a trip, such as a vacation. Parents can provide local authorities with a copy of the printouts along with a physical description of the child, which can assist in the tracing process. Once the lost child has been identified, it can be quickly returned to the parents, ending what many parents consider their worst nightmare.
Not everyone agrees with the concept of child fingerprinting. Detractors sometimes view the process as an invasion of privacy, with lifelong repercussions. At the same time, advocates point to the potentially dangerous situations found in many cities and towns which make the idea of fingerprinting children both practical and important to the child protection process. As the concept of child fingerprinting becomes commonplace in more jurisdictions around the world, there is no doubt that both the merits and disadvantages of this approach to child safety will continue to be debated.
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