The California Child Identification Program is a state-level program of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES), Criminal Justice Programs Division. The program will serve two regions within the state (Northern and Southern Regions) by two agencies providing child abduction services which will assist law enforcement in the identification and recovery of missing/abducted children. Services within the Central to Southern California Region, hereinafter referred to as the "Southern Region," will be provided by Central California CARES. Services within the Central to Northern California Region, hereinafter referred to as the "Northern Region," will be provided by the Vanished Children’s Alliance (VCA).

Through the implementation of this program in the Northern Region of California, VCA will begin the process of making available Child Identification Kits and fingerprinting to the parents and guardians of children under the age of eighteen. Additionally, VCA will disseminate other information regarding missing children and child abduction to include but not limited to posters of California’s missing/abducted children.

While every minute that a child is missing is important, it is a proven fact that the most critical time is in the first few hours the child is missing and the law enforcement initial response. During that initial response, law enforcement agencies need quick access to accurate information on the missing/abducted child, including a correct physical description, along with a recent quality photograph of the child. It is critical that this information be accurate as it is the basis for development of child posters and missing/abducted child alerts.

Parents are urged to: