PARANOID parents fearing child abductions are turning to
CSI-style identity kits for peace of mind.
A Gold Coast company is gaining national attention after
reporting sales of 300 Find Me Safe child identity kits each week.
The kits contain a DNA sample bag for hair and skin follicles, a
handwriting sample card and a police-quality fingerprinting technology.
The product is designed for families who fear their child become
one of the 35,000 people reported missing each year in Australia.
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Talei
Crowson, 9 years, with her mother Mirini Crowson and the
Find Me Safe kit. Pic: Brendan Radke |
Local designer Adam Fairhead said the kit, which retails for $12.95, was
'insurance' for parents to produce to authorities if their child ever
went missing.
Since the Isle of Capri company officially launched three months ago he
said several hundred kits were being sold each week to parents in every
State and territory in Australia.
''We hope no-one ever has to use this product but without something like
this parents are powerless if the worst happens,'' he said.
The kit is the latest item in a long-line of child ID products which
have popped up across the world in recent years in the wake of high
profile international missing children cases including
Madeleine
McCann.
The items range from the practical to the bizarre with parents able to
purchase identification cards, beeping locator devices, teeth imprint
kits and personalised temporary tattoos.
The advent of yet another kit has drawn ire from parenting experts who
claim the products are a 'peace-of-mind' placebo.
Common sense parenting author Maggie Dent said the concept was 'bunkum'.
''Instead of making up insurance plans we need to be teaching our
children how to develop a strong sense of personal safety and to listen
to their instincts, |