Kidnapping

[onedaddy]

You've got me thinking.  I will be making a trip down to the DMV and see if I can get records from them.  

BM lives close to 100 miles away and is moving to a new area and at this point we are not privy to the address so have someone watch them would be impossible.

Since the trial takes place in their new county, I guess I can do my research during the trial since I will not be allowed inside the courtroom.
   
The next weekend the children are with us I will fingerprint them.

Hopefully, the forensics evaluation will pull most of the weight and the judge will reverse custody and aprove a stricter CO

[MYSONSDAD]

When I went on the courthouse computer and checked driving records, that is where I got the birthdays and SS#

Your fingerprinting your kids is a great idea! This is usually done in school, but mine is a toodler yet...

"Children learn what they live"

[Kitty C.]

You can still get your child fingerprinted, MSD.  MANY years ago, when I belonged to a civic organization, we did a kiddie fingerprint day for the community.  Our oldest was 17 and our youngest was 5 weeks old.

So when I got DS back, after his dad had taken off with him and proved to be a flight risk, I took DS to the local sheriff's office and had us BOTH fingerprinted.  I told DS (who was 4 at the time) that we were doing it together to keep us safe, so that if anything happened to either of us, they could use those prints to help find us.  He thought that was pretty cool, especially since the fingerprinting was done right next to the jail and he liked cops at the time.  He thought it was a cool deal all around, LOL!

The LEA will NOT keep a set of those prints, they are only for you.  I did it with DS so that it didn't appear he was being singled out.  He just thought it was another grand adventure that he and Mommy were going on!

That is something I recommend EVERY NCP do with their children:  get fingerprints on them and have them stored (keep updated pics of them as well) in a safe place, either in a fired-safe lock box (with another key with someone you trust) or give them to someone you trust explicitly to store safely.  There are organizations that will do this, but you can go to any LEA and have it done as well.  While you're at it, write down ANY identifying marks on the child, eye and hair color, birth marks, ANYTHING that would help to identify your child and keep that with the prints as well.

If your child is ever taken, especially from YOUR custody, get out that info and get it to the nearest LEA immediately.  Include details on what your child was wearing as well.  It's very easy to be distraught enough to 'forget' small details, but it's VERY important to think very carefully of those seemingly unimportant details...you never know when it might become VERY important.  Give them an overload of information, if at all possible.  Don't be afraid to ask a friend or family member to help you remember details as well.  They may remember that very slight gap in between your daughter's front teeth or how your toddler son pronounces his R's as W's, something you may not remember as well, since you see them all the time.  It's ALL important!

[MYSONSDAD]

I have family members on the Police force, so that would be a treat to have my little guy go down and see what his uncle does. He knows, but to be in the building would be a great treat!

I did do my own fingerprinting, but would be better to have it professionally done. Schools in this area also do this as a regular routine. But hard when your kids are still toodlers.

But this idea of doing it with community effort, is wonderful! Would make other parents aware of how important this is.
 Very good points made! Thanks!

"Children learn what they live"

[msme]

Kidnapping is very tough to deal with. For a while, it was a very serious concern for us. Now, we feel it is not as likely to happen. At the time, we told one of the children, who we decided could understand & not say anything, that we were concerned that mom might make a poor choice & decide to go off on a trip with them, without telling daddy. She has very limited visitation, 3 hours a week.

He was told that if it got to be past return time & they were not heading back, or had left the state, that he was to tell his mom that he had to use the restroom. When she stopped, he was to go to an adult & ask them to call the police. Tell them that they lived with their dad & should have been returned to him by 5PM. Or if he could get to a phone, he should dial 911 & give them his name, address & phone number & then tell them the same thing.

Thank God, this hasn't happened but one never knows.

Also, AAA sells a child identy kit. There is a questionaire to fill out, a place for prints, with an ink strip for doing them, a place for a picture & a plastic case to keep it in. I think they were only about $2 or $3.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression!

[MYSONSDAD]

Like how you handled informing the kids on what they should do, smart!

"Children learn what they live"