MoCHIP free child ID Event Oct. 5

The Clintonville Lodge 482 A.F.& A.M. will host a free MoCHIP – child identification and protection program from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, in the R-II School Elementary Cafeteria.

With more than 240,000 children processed through the MoCHIP Child ID program in 13 years, MoCHIP is helping to protect our community. The Missouri Masonic Family will be on hand this Saturday to ensure the safety of area children FREE OF CHARGE.

No parent wants to believe that the unimaginable could happen to them, though nearly 2,000 children are reported missing or abducted in the United States each day. The peace of mind MoChip provides to Missouri families in invaluable.

Girls and Boys ages 11 – 21 are statically most susceptible to becoming missing. Once the child is processed through the program, which generally takes only 15 minutes, the parent is armed with a single pre-printed envelope that instructs authorities in the event of an emergency and a proactive measure to combat the time sensitivity involved in recovery. Within a matter of minutes, the MOChip CD can be loaded into a computer directly from a police officer’s automobile and entered into the Ambre Alert system.

Deemed “one of the most comprehensive child recovery and identification programs in the nation,” by the national Center for Exploited and Missing children, the Missouri Masonic Child Identification and protection program, MoChip, is solely sponsored by the Masonic Children’s Foundation of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Masons.

The program consists of five major components, digital photographs, digital fingerprints, vital child information and emergency contacts, a dental bite impression, and laminated ID cards. The photographs, fingerprints and child data are burned onto a mini-cd that is compatible with the AMBER ALERT system already in place. The dental impression provides a virtual diagram of the child’s biting surface, which, like fingerprints is unique to each individual and further supplies enough saliva to provide a DNA sample that can also be used as scent source for trained canine search teams. Combined, this five-part process provides a dramatic, time-sensitive recovery tool for authorities.

On the day of the MoCHIP event, parents are urged to gather pertinent information such as doctor, dentist and emergency contacts and phone numbers, allergies, medication and parent work, cell and assorted phone numbers. Information Collections Forms and a permission slips can be downloaded from the mochip.org website and filled out ahead of time. Height charts and scales are available at the event to facilitate the most current details regarding the child.

Security and privacy are of utmost importance. All information and specimens are collected on site, processed and provided to the parent or legal guardian in a yellow envelope. At the end of each event, databases are erased using state-of-the art software. The only item retained by the Masonic Children’s foundation is the signed permission slip.