GACHIP-Georgia Child Identification Program-is one of the most comprehensive Child Recovery, Identification, and Abduction Awareness programs ever to be offered to parents and guardians in the state of Georgia. Since 2004, Freemasons from various state jurisdictions in the United States and in several Canadian provinces have sponsored Masonic CHIP events. At a CHIP event, Freemasons set up the equipment and enlist the aid of local volunteers, as necessary, to generate completed child identification kits. Each child progresses through several stations taking about 10 to 15 minutes for the entire process.
The recorded information is presented to the child’s parent or guardian to retain for safekeeping. All information is confidential and GACHIP retains only the permission form when the kit is completed and given to the parents. The mission of the GACHIP program is to raise public awareness concerning the risk of abduction and exploitation that our children now face today.
The Identification Kit includes a CD with the following information:
- Full color digital photographs showing various poses of the child. These color photographs can be circulated by the police to the media in the case of abduction and can be used in the Amber Alert Program.
- A complete set of digital fingerprints. Everyone’s fingerprints are unique and are a well-known tool for recovery, investigation and identification.
- Information about the child including distinguishing features such as hair and eye color, scars, etc. The disk will also contain contact information for parents or guardians.
- DNA Swab. The DNA Swabs provided are the unique DNA of the child which is important for investigation, recovery and identification.
For more information and to schedule an event: www.gachip.org