22% Of Parents Do Not Know The Height, Weight, And Eye Color Of Their Own Children!

May 20, 2009 - PRLog -- 3560 Investment Lane
Riviera Beach FL 33404
Contact Person: Deb Krueger
561-685-3812 cell
800-771-4767 X110 (office hours)
PRESS RELEASE for immediate release
Survey shows 22% of parents do not know the height, weight, and eye color for all of their children:
In recognition of National Missing Children’s Day on May 25, 2009, make child safety a priority.
West Palm Beach- Twenty seven years after President Reagan designated May 25th as National Missing Children's Day (NMCD), there are still 2,185 missing children reported daily. NMCD is the perfect time for parents and caregivers to educate themselves and others about the actions they can take to protect children from abduction while arming themselves with all of their children's vital identification information. "In the event of an emergency, it is critical for parents to have readily available their child's accurate physical description and a recent photograph so that law enforcement can act immediately and effectively," said John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted, and noted child safety advocate.
The Kidz-IDz program, a successful at home strategy for storing all needed information efficiently, was founded by Michael Pouls, a parent troubled by the increasing number of missing, abducted, and abused children. Affordable kits are available from American Sales Industries and contain a plastic child ID which has the child’s photo, lists medical conditions and emergency contact information for quick action. Incorporated also is dental record storage, DNA kit, fingerprint kit, safety poster, and kid’s identification bracelet. A car seat decal is included which is critical in case of an accident when children are too young or traumatized to speak for themselves. The kit is a great household addition in light of the fact that a 2002 survey by Woelfer Research, Inc. for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) discovered that 22% of parents do not know the height, weight, and eye color for all of their children. Moreover, while 90 percent of parents can readily provide height, weight, and eye color information for their teenagers, approximately one out of four parents cannot readily provide the same information for all of their children aged six and under—the very children who cannot speak for themselves.
In terms of prevention, NCMEC recommends the single most important measure parents can take is to talk to children about safety issues. Nearly one out of every ten parents surveyed had never discussed safety precautions with their children for activities outside the home. Fourteen percent of parents had not discussed safety precautions with their children within the past six months. Moreover, 22 percent of parents had not established a plan of action with their children if someone tries to abduct them, while 20 percent of parents had never explained that abductors can be people that their children already know. The time involved in implementing the Kidz-IDz program is minimal but a perfect time to discuss safety strategies, create a household plan, and sort fact from fiction about “Stranger Danger” and computer safety.
National Missing Children’s Day also serves as an excellent reminder of the resources available to the public when a child is missing, such as the wireless Amber alert program, NetSmartz.com, and the Take 25 program created by NCMEC. For more information on those programs and Kidz-IDz, contact Deb Krueger @ American Sales Industries at 800-771-4767 X110 or Deb@asiincentives.com.

Statistics for this release:
U. S. Department of Justice
Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation, 1997
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Woelfel Research, Inc. for NCMEC