Find your missing child fast with the Child ID app

The FBI releases an app to help you locate your missing child quickly

There’s nothing quite as terrifying as walking through a store and looking down to find that your child is gone.  Nine times out of ten, it’s because they’re hiding in the clothes racks, waiting to see if you’ll start freaking out (at least those were the kinds of freakish mind-games I played with my mom as a kid).  But in this terrifying Jaycee Dugard age, we all know that there are weirdos out there, and when your kid disappears on you, you can only hope they’re just playing mind games with you.

So the FBI has just released a new app to help parents locate their missing kids fast.  The FBI Child ID app is now available for free in the iTunes store, but it will be available for other devices as well in the near future. 

The app allows parents to store their child’s information, stats, and photos in one spot so that in the event their child goes missing, they can instantly send over all information to authorities.  This can be a literal life-saver when you consider that timing is everything when a child goes missing.  The first three hours are the most critical to getting a child back safely (if someone is going to harm a child they’ve abducted, they’re likely to do it within the first three hours).  But it can take two hours or more to get information about the child from a panicking parent.

The app allows parents to keep a quick go-to stash of information on their child on hand in the event they start panicking and can’t think straight—information that can quickly and instantly be transferred over to authorities.  It also allows you to update information, such as height and weight, as needed (since kids grow pretty quickly).

The app also includes safety tips and information on what to do during the first hours that your child is missing.  New features will be rolling out in the near future, including the ability to add photos from your phone to the app.  The FBI also ensures that your child's information is secure and will not be collected unless you send it over.