Lake County child ID program gets tribal funds

The Lake County Tribal Health Consortium has donated $20,000 to the Sheriff’s Office to fund a child identification program aimed at helping locate lost, runaway or abducted children.

The program enables parents to create a trove of information, including fingerprints and video footage of the child, that can then be handed over to the police in the event of an emergency. None of the information is kept by law enforcement officials prior to the emergency.

“We don’t have to sit and wait. We can jump on it and start looking and we have all the information we need,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Capt. Chris Chwialkowski.

Chwialkowski said the funds pay for a child ID kit that is prepared with the help of the child and his or her parents. It includes all the information that’s sent out in an Amber Alert, as well as fingerprints and a video interview with the child that includes the youth’s responses to such questions as where the child goes when upset.

The ID kit also includes a printed ID card that the child can carry. All the information compiled is placed on a CD and given to the child’s parent or guardian. Sheriff’s officials said the program is free to parents and registration will be conducted during public events such as health and safety fairs.

Ernesto Padilla, executive director of the tribal health group, which represents six Lake County tribes, said the funds were provided as part of the organization’s focus on child safety. The consortium, which operates clinics in Lakeport, Middletown and Clearlake, has a client base of about 7,000 people and logs about 25,000 medical visits and 10,000 dental visits a year.

Although the consortium represents mostly Pomo tribes in Lake County, its system of health centers, which includes a new pediatric and obstetrics clinic in Lakeport, is open to all local residents, said Padilla. Likewise, the new child ID program is available to all Lake County children.

“We see natives and non-natives at our clinics,” Padilla said. “Child wellness is a priority of ours and that includes medical health care and overall safety.”

Chwialkowski said that although child disappearances are rare events, precautions such as this program provides can be extremely helpful.

“It’s not a big problem, but it’s kind of like an earthquake,” he said. “We don’t have very many but we still have earthquake drills.”

For more information about the child ID program, contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Department at (707) 262-4080.