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Tom Rooney, Charlie Crist Team Up on Child Safety Proposal

September 29, 2017 - 9:45am
Charlie Crist, Tom Rooney and Bobby Bowden
Charlie Crist, Tom Rooney and Bobby Bowden

With Americans increasingly concerned about protecting their data after several high profile hacks, two congressmen from Florida teamed up this week to focus on a way to help balance child safety with securing their information. 

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., brought out the “National Child Identification Assistance Act" on Thursday with U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., as the co-sponsor. Rooney’s proposal amends the Missing Children's Assistance Act in regards to the National Child Identification Program which encourages parents to be proactive including fingerprinting their children. 

Rooney made the case for his proposal on Thursday. 

“The National Child Identification Assistance Act highlights the importance of the National Child Identification Program, a national community service initiative which provides inkless, in-home fingerprinting kits to parents so they can proactively collect and store their child’s vital identification in the privacy of their own homes,” Rooney said. “It also decentralizes the process for law enforcement agencies that may lack the resources to collect and centrally-store information related to individual children. Should a child go missing, parents will be able to immediately furnish all of the pertinent information that law enforcement needs to conduct a search and rescue as quickly as possible. In the past, this program has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, local law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other community service organizations and this bill is an important step to ensure parents are directly involved in its continued success.”
 
“We must do all we can to protect our children. I am proud to join my friend, Congressman Rooney, in introducing this common-sense bill to do just that, promoting a proactive approach to address the growing issue of missing and exploited children,” Crist said. 

The program has been aided in the past by the sports community with National Football League (NFL) teams and college football programs partnering up to offer ID kids. Rooney and Crist won the support of one of the most legendary coaches in college football history on Thursday. 

“I am so proud that Congressman Rooney and Crist are leading the effort to help protect our greatest asset, our nations' children,” said former Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden. “I was one of the coaches that helped start this program, and to date with 57 million ID kits distributed, it is the largest child ID program in the world. What a blessing."

Rooney’s proposal was sent to the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee on Thursday. 

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