Parents collect DNA from kids in case of emergency

MILWAUKEE - Fingerprints, check. Recent photograph, check. Lecture on staying away from strangers, check. DNA sample, check?

Many parents across the country are swabbing the inside of their child's mouth to get DNA as insurance in case of a kidnapping, runaway, or horrific accident, where remains, hair or blood need to be identified.

News reports about child abductions and television shows like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" are driving the demand, said Jerry Nance, supervisor of the forensic assistance unit of the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"It's the CSI mentality: that DNA is going to be the answer to any problem that comes up," he said.

Missing kids found murdered or those who are never heard from make up only about 2 percent of the 850,000 kids that go missing every year, he said. Most children are found within several days or come home on their own.

Despite those numbers, private companies, police stations, orthodontists and others distribute or sell kits that include a photo, fingerprints, a cotton or wooden swab and a special envelope or sheaf in which to put the DNA. The kits cost $5 to $15, but can be as much as $60, Nance said. Some are given for free.

He said if the sample is dried properly it can last forever, but he recommends putting the sample in a freezer. Others say putting the sample in specialized filter paper in a moisture resistance pouch is the best way to store it.

DNA can help narrow down suspects, especially if hair or blood is found in a suspect's home or car, Nancy said.

Pleasant Prairie, Wis., police Chief Brian Wagner said his department created about 1,000 DNA collection kits and began offering them for free in September. Parents have picked up more than 300, he said.

"We've been doing a lot of child fingerprinting but that's not always a reliable means of identification, and the thought kinda popped up you could capture someone's DNA ... it is absolute for its effectiveness in identification."

Lafourche Parish, La., Sheriff Craig Webre, first vice president of the National Sheriffs' Association, said DNA collection could become standard within the next decade.

He backs a new program called Kid ID, started by Dr. Bob Chastant, an orthodontist in New Iberia, La., who has collected DNA from kids since 1994 in his practice and at the second-grade level in schools. He later started doing it at fairs and other events.

In May, Chastant started encouraging orthodontists nationwide to join the program, in which the orthodontist takes a digital photograph of the child along with fingerprints. The items are entered into a Kid ID database. Parents are sent a kit to collect the sample, which they save or send to the University of North Texas to create a DNA profile. It is then sent to Kid ID for storage.

"It allows law enforcement to use the DNA for tracking where the child has been," Chastant said.

About 19 orthodontists across the county participate, he said. He plans to try to get other health professionals involved next year.

In Alabama, the first orthodontist to work with the Kid ID program is Dr. Bill Harrell, based in Alexander City. He spent about 6 1/2 hours at the Alexander City Middle School health fair Nov. 21 and took photos of and fingerprinted more than 200 kids.

He had introduced the 3dMD program to Kid ID, which enables orthodontists to take three-dimensional photos of the children.

The University of North Texas System Center runs the Combined DNA Index System, which allows federal, state, and local crime labs to compare DNA profiles electronically. The cost to the parent is for the university's DNA analysis, which is done for $39.95, Chastant said.

The center's director, Art Eisenberg, who helped develop the field of DNA for human identification in the 1980s, said having the DNA in a central repository speeds up the identification process if remains are found.

"It's not knowing that is the absolute worst thing for these families," he said.

Lisa Kubista, 33, said she took her two stepchildren, ages 7 and 6, to Chippewa Ford Lincoln Mercury in Chippewa Falls, Wis., in September. They took photos and video of the kids, and gave parents a kit from DNA LifePrint Child Safety Program to collect a DNA sample.

"Things can happen and you need to be prepared to the highest extent that you can," Kubista said.

Joe Polski, chief operations officer for the International Association for Identification, which claims to be the oldest and largest forensic organization in the world, said he wouldn't use the kits but he wouldn't discourage them.

"The chances are so slim that it's questionable in my mind if it's worth the work to have it," he said. "Parents would be far better off to pay attention to what their kids are doing, who they are hanging around with."

Ed Smart said he wishes he would have known about the kits before his daughter Elizabeth was kidnapped from her Utah bedroom in June 2002. She was found alive nine months later. He said investigators took boxes of her belongings to find her DNA and didn't get a DNA sample back for weeks. He said having the sample ready could have narrowed down suspects faster.

"It is kind of like an insurance policy you hope you never use," he said.