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Home DNA Kits

A Way to Help Safeguard Children

By Shannon McKelden

"Interest in this area has been driven by advocacy for lost and missing children," says Howard Coleman, CEO of Genelex Corporation in Seattle, Wash. Around 1995, his company began using home DNA kits for paternity testing. The kits were later used for personalized nutrition and drug reaction testing. These home kits are similar to what parents are now beginning to use to collect and store identifying data on their children.

Kay Green, a mother of four from Hillsboro, Ore., uses home DNA kits. "The DNA kit is only one part of my plan to keep my kids safer," Green says. "I also have them wear an ID bracelet. I have an ID card with their info in my wallet and on their car seat. I have child safety DVDs and a board game to help me teach them ways to stay safe."

Ivette Gonzalez-Stern, a mother of two from Sicklerville, N.J., also uses the kits. "I made that choice because of safety," she says. "I hear stories about children being abducted by people they know and strangers."

While most would agree that it can't hurt to have this information, not everyone agrees that parents should be collecting and storing the DNA data. Processing the hair strands or buccal swabs, if they have been stored properly, takes time. However, the major drawback to home DNA kits is that they can be lost or misplaced. In an emergency situation, speed is imperative. Any delay in giving the information to a law enforcement agency can result in loss of valuable time in locating a child.

Though it is possible for DNA to be retrieved from a toothbrush or hairbrush, it is also reportedly possible for a child's toothbrush to have several different DNA specimens on it. This could result in more delays while authorities try to separate the DNA to isolate that of the missing child.

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