Child Protect Program Caddo Kiowa Technology Center

Each year, nearly 800,000 children are reported missing. The vast majority hasn’t been fingerprinted since birth, making it even harder for law enforcement to find them.

So, Caddo Kiowa Technology Center (CKTC) students enrolled in Business and Computer Technology, Criminal Justice, Practical Nursing and Graphic Communications joined forces to introduce a new and special event on campus: The Child Protect Program.

CKTC offered the Child Protect Program as a part of CareerTech Week events in February. Parents from surrounding communities brought their children; Fort Cobb-Broxton Schools transported their elementary and middle school students to CKTC to participate in the event; and Caddo Kiowa’s day care center brought infants, toddlers and preschool children.

When the day was over, the students and staff provided more than 400 children with the free child protection kits that included a video and photo of each child, as well as a card with each child’s fingerprint on it. The information was put in an envelope with emergency numbers and safety information on the cover.

It was a successful event that saw four program areas and three different student organizations working together. Wal-Mart even chipped in and helped with the purchase of the blank video tapes.

And this is only the beginning. CKTC plans to not only offer the Child Protect Program each year during CareerTech Week, but to take the show on the road. In August, the students scheduled a day with each of Caddo Kiowa’s 14 school districts. They loaded fingerprinting equipment, printers, digital cameras, video cameras and packets and went to each of the schools.

The program is CKTC’s way of making it easy for parents to get their little ones' unique identifying information on file. No one wants to think about a child turning up missing—but if it happens, the information parents collect with this program is their best bet for helping law enforcement bring their kids home safe and sound.