What is WA-CHIP? A partnership between the Masonic Families of Washington and their Local Communities!
Our Mission: To promote a positive image of Masonry by providing a vital Community Service for the safe recovery of a lost or missing child. The essential tasks to meet this mission:
Must be fiscally sound.
Must provide a product usable by law-enforcement and parents to identify and find a lost or missing child.
Must make program accessible for all children.
Washington Children Identification Programs is a Non-profit 501 (c)(3) Corporation.
CHIP stands for CHildren Identification
Programs
This program gives the parents of every participating child
the tools they need for indentification of that child should he or she ever
become missing.
Qualified individuals make a video
of the child, take an impression of the teeth, make a DNA swab, and
take the child's fingerprints. These are put into a kit which is given
to the parents for safekeeping and nothing is kept by CHIP's. Give yourself
peace of mind and participate when CHIP's comes to your
area!
The probability of
recovering a child is directly proportional to the quality and
quantity of
accurate, current identification data available on them, and the
speed and breadth of the
response to the situation.
It is the goal of CHIP's to help families be prepared for a lost,
missing, or kidnapped child
by having, in hand, the exact kind of high quality information
/ data on the child
that news agencies and law enforcement need to provide the best and
most diverse
response to the crises.
The CHIP's program includes the following components:
DVD VIDEO: A brief structured video interview that can be
quickly distributed to the
media in order to reach a huge audience. This short structured /
standardized interview
answers key questions needed if a child is missing.
FINGERPRINTING: Fingerprinting is a well-known means of
identification. Resourceful
parents keep fingerprints available should the need arise.
TOOTHPRINTS®: A tooth-print bite impression is quick and easy. Teeth,
like fingerprints
are unique. A dental imprint gives both accurate and important
information for
identification purposes. The tooth-print impression plate also holds
DNA that can also
identify the child. The impression also holds a saliva sample that can be used by tracking dogs to help find a child.
DNA SWAB: Washington CHIP's program takes a separate spit and cellular
DNA swab
from the inside of the oral cavity (inside of cheek). This helps
ensure that a quality DNA
sample is obtained. This also backs up any DNA that is
obtained on the
TOOTHPRINTS®.
Be sure to check our Calendar and plan ahead to bring your children
to the CHIP's booth. The peace of mind that having the CHIP's kit at
home will give you is priceless.
