|
LIFETOUCH AND THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING &
EXPLOITED
CHILDREN CONTINUE COMMITMENT
TO KEEP KIDS SAFE WITH SMILESAFE KIDS® AND TAKE 25
Initiatives Have Assisted in the Safe Recovery
of 10 Children
MINNEAPOLIS, MN AND ALEXANDRIA, VA – The
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and Lifetouch,
the nation’s largest school photography company, are continuing their
commitment to child safety by encouraging parents, guardians and other adult
role models to talk to their kids about safety and to keep an up-to-date photo
of their child available at all times in case of an emergency.
Because having a current image is so important in the search for a missing
child, NCMEC partnered with Lifetouch to develop the SmileSafe Kids® program.
One of the largest child safety initiatives in the country, SmileSafe Kids
has helped in the recovery of 10 missing children in nine different states
since 2004 as a direct result of someone recognizing them from the image provided
by Lifetouch.
“Since this partnership started nearly five years ago, the response
from families and schools has been tremendous,” said Bruce Martin, Vice
President Marketing of Lifetouch National School Studios. “Through our
relationship with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children,
we’ve been able to provide parents and guardians important and useful
tools to help keep children safe at no cost to families.”
The SmileSafe Kids program features a 24 hours a day, seven days a week rapid-response
system. If a child is reported missing, Lifetouch will provide the child’s
image to NCMEC. Lifetouch will only provide the image to NCMEC if it
is requested and verified by the child’s parent or guardian. In
addition, two free photo identification cards are given to parents and guardians
featuring the most current school portrait of their child. Each child’s
identification card has a Safety ID number which Lifetouch uses to accurately
locate and retrieve a child’s image. This number is unique to
Lifetouch and does not contain any personal information about the child.
“In the case of a missing child it is important that the search begins
immediately,” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. “That
is why our partnership with Lifetouch is so important, because it can put
the child’s photograph in the hands of law enforcement within minutes. A
photo is the most critical tool in the search for a missing child and we have
been proud to partner with Lifetouch on this effort.”
Since October 2004, Lifetouch has distributed more than 90 million photo
identification cards. Two SmileSafe Kids identification cards are sent
to the parent or guardian of every K-8 child photographed by Lifetouch in
participating schools, free of charge even if no portraits were ordered.
Take 25
Lifetouch is also the corporate sponsor of Take 25, a NCMEC campaign that
encourages parents, guardians, and other trusted adult role models to spend
25 minutes talking to their children and teaching them ways to be safer.
Take 25 was started to commemorate National Missing Children’s Day
on May 25. The day serves as an annual reminder to renew efforts to reunite
missing children with their families, remember those who are still missing
and make child protection a national priority.
For more information about these programs, please visit www.smilesafekids.com or www.missingkids.com.
About Lifetouch
Lifetouch has been providing high quality portraits to schools and parents
for over 70 years and is the largest school photographer in North America.
Lifetouch provides photography services for preschool, elementary, middle
and high school students. For more information on Lifetouch go to www.lifetouch.com.
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children (NCMEC)
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984,
the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children’s
hotline which has handled more than 2.2 million calls. It has assisted
law enforcement in the recovery of more than 126,000 children. The
organization’s CyberTipline has handled more than 588,000 reports of
child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has
reviewed and analyzed more than 13,902,500 child pornography images and videos. The
organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s
office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more
about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit
its web site at www.missingkids.com |
Privacy Policy
