Fingerprint children for their safety

Over 700,000 children are reported missing in the U.S. each year. That makes about 1,400,000 parents wondering what they could have done differently.
The Lutheran School of Flushing and Bayside is partnering with Just Cause, Inc., a N.Y. based child Safety Company, to help parents create a personal ID file for their children.
On Friday, November 30, the school will host a Digital Fingerprinting program at their facility, located at 36-01 Bell Boulevard in Bayside, from 3 until 7 p.m.
Maria Kontos, spokesperson for the Lutheran School, said, “We have a classroom set aside for this, because it’s more comfortable. The entire process should take about 15 or 20 minutes.”
For a fee of $15, parents receive a computer disc containing the only copy of their kid’s digital fingerprints and a program enabling them to create a complete ID file for them.
The Digital Fingerprinting Program offers a complete, confidential, and accurate way to create an up-to-date home identification file on each child. It is a vital part of every parent’s personal files.
Using an infrared scanner, each finger is scanned rather than pressed on an ink pad and then rolled over a record card. The century-old ink process always made a mess, and often produced uneven, smudged prints which were difficult to read or reproduce.
“We still offer programs with free ink printing,” said Terry Eisner, spokesperson for Just Cause, “But almost nobody wants them anymore.”
Eisner explained that at $15, the fingerprinting, disk, software and instruction give the parent “a state-of-the-art, permanent record.”
Parents can enter personal information, add and update photographs and even include video clips.
Fingerprints don’t change, Eisner asserted, so the process never has to be repeated, as long as the disc is preserved.
Both Eisner and the school stress that parents get the only copy of the digital fingerprints, so they can participate in the program with confidence.