Over the weekend, a child identification event was held at West Point Lake. This gave parents the opportunity to cultivate photos, fingerprints and other pertinent information of their children, with the purpose of using that information to help locate their child in the event they become lost or stolen.

Events such as this are becoming more common throughout the country, as a way to combat child abductions.

Understandably, parents provide this information with the hope that it is never used.

While the event saw multiple families and children take part, the number of children who participated was 35.

Single events are only going to drive so much attention and traffic. Community outreach, unfortunately, is never going to reach an entire local population in one day.

As a way to offset this, other groups should hold similar events. As an example, local law enforcement could set up similar events across the area, or the program could be held at local elementary schools.

While the scenario is one no parent or adult wants to think about, it is a situation all need to be prepared to handle in case the need arises. We want to successfully and efficiently recover every lost or stolen child, this identification program is one small way to help.

This means keeping up-to-date records on what the child looks like, various identifiers and other background information.

Founding father Benjamin Franklin said it best, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”