Pamphlets are being sent home with children on how to label so they can be identified in a tragedy
Horrifying pamphlets sent home with children as young as 7 in Texas ask parents to detail birthmarks, moles, scars and other distinguishing features so that they can be identified in a tragedy
- A writer claimed that her children have been sent home with pamphlets detailing how they should label themselves so they can be identified in a tragedy
- Joanna McFarland Owusu, a writer, published an op-ed about her children bringing the instructions home from their school in Texas
- She detailed the pamphlet that her 7-year-old daughter brought home, which described the ‘National Child Identification Program’
- The program pre-dates the Uvalde shooting, and while it can be used in such a tragedy, it is meant to help locate missing children
A Texas writer shared that her children were sent home with pamphlets detailing how they should label themselves so they can be identified in a tragedy.
Joanna McFarland Owusu published an op-ed about her children bringing the instructions home from their school in Texas.
She detailed the pamphlet that her 7-year-old brought home, which described what’s known as the ‘National Child Identification Program.’
‘She handed it to me with a bewildered look on her face and opened it to show me a page with slots for her fingerprints, one box for each finger. She said she supposed we needed to fill this out,’ McFarland Owusu wrote.
The disturbing handout follows the Uvalde shooting, where 19 children and 2 teachers died inside a Texas elementary school on May 24.
The program, however, pre-dates the shooting, and while it can be used in such a tragedy, it is more prominently used to identify children who go missing.
She detailed the pamphlet which described what the schools are calling the ‘National Child Identification Program’ that her 7-year-old daughter brought to her
McFarland Owusu said: ‘She handed it to me with a bewildered look on her face and opened it to show me a page with slots for her fingerprints, one box for each finger. She said she supposed we needed to fill this out’
A Texas writer said her children were sent home with pamphlets detailing how they should label themselves so they can be identified in a tragedy in the wake of the Uvalde shooting
McFarland Owusu wrote that nevertheless, the pamphlets made her feel like her ‘rage is crushing and all-consuming and feels like lava coursing through my veins.’
The pamphlets show, in part, naked, genderless children and advise parents to record ‘distinguishing birthmarks, moles, scars, previously broken bones and prosthetics’ on their child.
You’re also encouraged to put down the location of your kid’s medical and dental records, a recent photo, DNA samples, a thumbprint and other important information.
McFarland Owusu said: ‘I choked up as I realized what I was meant to do. I was to label the figure with any birthmarks, moles, scars, or other distinguishing feature on my child, so that her body could be identified, if, for example, her face was blown off by an assault weapon.’
She added that it has strengthened her resolve to vote out Republican legislators in Texas, whom she says have ‘made a mockery of your child’s safety,’ adding, ‘my rage knows no bounds, and I’ll carry it with me to the ballot box.’
McFarland Owusu wrote that it has strengthened her resolve to vote out Republican legislators like Greg Abbott (pictured) in Texas, whom she says have ‘made a mockery of your child’s safety,’ adding, ‘my rage knows no bounds, and I’ll carry it with me to the ballot box.’
A woman prays at a makeshift memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
Crosses placed to honor the victims of the shootings at Robb Elementary School
Her words come a day after the chief of the Texas Department of Public Safety claimed his officers ‘did not fail’ the Uvalde community during the massacre that left 21 people dead.
DPS Director Steven McCraw, who is facing calls to resign over officers’ failure to quickly subdue shooter Salvador Ramos at the Uvalde Elementary School, said he’d gladly go if his department was at fault.
‘If DPS as an institution failed the families, failed the school or failed the community of Uvalde, then absolutely, I need to go,’ McCraw said during Friday’s hearing.
‘But I can tell you this right now, DPS as an institution, ok, right now, did not fail the community, plain and simple.’
It comes after one of McCraw’s officers, Sargent Juan Maldonado, became the first DPS officer to be fired over the botched response.