No parent ever wants experience having a child go missing, but should that happen, the Benicia Fire Department has acquired a resource to assist in bringing lost children home safely.

City firefighters have partnered with the American Football Coaches Association  (AFCA) and California Fire Foundation as well as the Benicia Unified School District to distribute “Child ID Kits” to Benicia elementary schools. The kits contain fingerprinting materials, DNA collection swabs and other tools aimed at allowing parents and guardians to record information about their children. Adults keep the information in their homes to be provided to authorities in the circumstance one of their children goes missing. The kits were distributed to kindergarteners last week during the final week of school for children to take home to their parents.

Todd Matthews, president of Benicia Firefighters Local 1186, said the department was contacted by the California Fire Foundation about a grant for the program that it could apply for at no cost to the department or union.

“We found out how many kids were in the (Benicia) Unified School District in the kindergarten classes and we requested that,” he said.

The child ID kits are part of the National Child Identification Program, which was launched by AFCA in 1997 to provide parents and guardians with resources to help keep their children safe. The program has delivered approximately 40 million kits and hopes to fingerprint every kindergartener in California and the rest of the United States. To help distribute these kits, AFCA has also partnered with California Professional Firefighters and its 501(c)3 nonprofit California Fire Foundation.

“We are proud to join with Benicia Firefighters Local 1186 in a program that will help protect their children,” Brian Rice, the president of California Firefighters and chair of the California Fire Foundation, said in a statement. “We believe that because of these partnerships, children will be safer.”

In another statement, Councilmember Mark Hughes praised the program.

“Our first responders are great role models for the community and are perfect messengers about the need for safety,” he said. “Our goal is to provide every family with the peace of mind that comes with having secure information about their children.”

Matthews said that the kits are a “worst case scenario” item, but should such a situation ever happen then the materials would be extremely helpful.

“If it’s used, it would be a tool that we could help hopefully locate a missing child,” he said.

Overall, Matthews believes the program will be beneficial for children, parents and law enforcement alike.

“As firefighters, we live and work in every neighborhood and are in a unique position to bring the kits to our community,” he said. “We’re proud to be part of an initiative that we believe will enhance child safety throughout our community.”

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