The CHILD Project

The Children’s Identification and Location Database (CHILD) Project www.thechildproject.org is a secure nationwide network and registry, maintained by the Nation’s Missing Children Organization (NMCO) and National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA) – www.theyaremissed.org, that enables law enforcement and social service agencies throughout the country to locate and positively identify missing children and adults with iris biometric recognition technology. Through this network, the CHILD Project will compare the unique features contained in the iris against a database of individuals who enroll throughout the country to determine the identity of an individual. Complementing fingerprinting identification and related programs now in place, the CHILD Project will capture a digital photograph of the individual’s iris, along with basic demographic information. Unlike existing fingerprint identification programs, the CHILD Project will create a national registry to give social service agencies, law enforcement, and other authorized users of the system, access to data that can positively identify children in seconds.

The Nation’s Missing Children Organization and National Center for Missing Adults is a nonprofit agency providing nationwide assistance to law enforcement and families of missing persons. The agency, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, was founded in 1994 by Kym Pasqualini who, at the age of eight, survived an attempted abduction by a knife wielding stranger. The group provides a variety of services including advocacy, search assistance, national distribution of information related to missing persons and various programs addressing child safety such as the child ID program. NMCO acts as a clearinghouse of information and does not provide investigative services or employ private investigators.

NMCO has been a member of the Association for Missing & Exploited Children’s Organizations (AMECO) since 1996, working with over 30 other agencies in the United States and Canada dedicated to providing victim assistance and education.

In 1995 NMCO expanded its charter to include services to missing persons over the age of eighteen and quickly identified that missing adults and their families were a segment of the victim population that has been under-served. In 1996 NMCO brought these concerns to Congress in a request for federal funding to establish the first national clearinghouse for missing adults. In July 2002, the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance provided a grant to NMCO to establish the National Center for Missing Adults, the first national clearinghouse for missing adults providing services and advocacy to families of missing persons. The agency is dedicated to the prevention of abduction and the safe recovery of missing adults with primary focus on adults determined by law enforcement to be endangered due to foul play, diminished mental capacity, physical disability, or suspicious circumstances.

Endorsements Link

The Child Project received the formal endorsement and active support of the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) in June of 2004. The NSA voted at its winter meeting in February of 2005 to extend its endorsement and business alliance for an additional three-year period.

The Child Project has also received the endorsement of other major organizations, such as the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, and has executed consulting agreements with well-respected former Sheriffs in numerous states, such as Florida.

CHILD Press Links

The Child Project has also received extensive national and local media coverage since the Company began implementing the system in May of 2005. Please visit the Company’s web site, www.thechildproject.org, and click on the “In the News” section to read and view some of the articles and television news stories regarding the Company and The Child Project from across the nation.