A KidCare photo identification kit is something a parent hopes they never need. But if tragedy happens and a child is missing, the Learn and Serve Lighthouse Partnership wants parents to have such a kit available.

The local partnership — which is a community service learning program to begin soon in Adams County — will give free identification kits to 700 children Saturday as part of Make a Difference Day.

Volunteers will take mug shots of children to include in the kits and police officers will fingerprint the children.

The kits also include space for updated pictures of the child and to list other statistics, such as medical history.

&uot;(The kit) is a tool and I hope it’s a tool that (parents) never have to use,&uot; said Randy Laird, program director for Learn and Serve. &uot;(But) it’s better to have a tool and not use it, then to need a tool and not have it.&uot;

The program is open free of charge to all children.

It will take place from 9 a.m. to noon at the Natchez-Adams School District’s Multipurpose Center — the former Natchez Convention Center, next to Natchez High School.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 1 million children are reported missing in the United States each year.

But agencies are able to locate one in seven missing children with a picture distributed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

That is why it is important to have pictures, such as those placed in these identification kits, available.

&uot;Everyone has pictures of their children, but most parents do not have a suitable photograph if their child becomes lost or missing,&uot; Laird said.

It is important to have a recent unobstructed head-and-shoulder picture stored in a safe place with vital statistics on that child at the time of the picture, Laird said.