Nick Cichielo has witnessed the impact a child identification kit can have on a missing child case.

Cichielo is the state coordinator for the masonic run Missouri Child Identification Program, known as MoCHIP.

Actuality:  MOCHIP1.WAV

Run Time: 00:30

Description:"Here is Missouri, last December a parent called panicking that her 16 year old daughter was missing. She'd went through the program. We told her to hand the envelope over to the police. The police took the disc. It [an alert] was issued and four hours later, fortunately it was not an abduction,it was a runaway, as the result of the efforts, as a result of what we supplied, they were able to find that child in four hours."

MoCHIP supplies families with digital photos, fingerprints, and dental impressions on a disc with emergency contacts and information.

Several organizations in the state provide different variations of these kits.  

Missouri law enforcement say it's better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to the safety of children.

Captain Tim Hull is the Public Information Director for the Missouri Highway Patrol.

While dental impressions and fingerprints may prove useful, Nancy McBride of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says recent, candid photos of children can be vital for recovery.

The kits have evolved since the days of Polaroids at county fairs.

As technology advances, so do the kits; some now including child DNA. 

The science is now available to insert computer chips into animals to recover lost pets.

Cichielo thinks this technology may carry over to the recovery of children.

From the state capitol, I'm Courtney Cox.