Minnesota Masonic Elder Services is proud to assist the Grand Lodge in providing this valuable service for the safety of the children in our community.

In the news, all too often, we see stories of lost children or the apparent abduction of a child. It has become a major concern of every parent and of our society at large.  According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a total of 840,279 persons were reported missing in 2001. Approximately 80-90 percent of these missing persons are juveniles: the largest number  are "runaways," followed by "lost, injured or otherwise missing children," then "family abductions," and finally, the smallest category but the one in which the child may be at greatest risk of injury or death, "nonfamily abductions."

The KIDS program uses a digital camera to capture a photograph of the child, and a form which provides biographical data regarding the child, and has spaces for fingerprint and DNA samples. The back of the printout contains Child Safety Tips for the child and parents, along with instructions on steps to follow if a child is missing. This vital information is then ready for the immediate use of law enforcement and the media if the child is lost or abducted. The faster such information is available, the more likely the child can be retrieved. For privacy reasons, none of the information is saved by the lodge.