When citizens are parents and children
Belgium has introduced protection services for 6-12 year-olds, to be implemented both in person and via the internet. This has brought about the introduction of a smart card ID for children, much like the national ID card available to adults.
The Kids-ID program was started up in early 2007 with a pilot scheme, developing into a nationwide program in 2009.
As of October 2015, the kids-ID is also available for Belgian children abroad. The card can be activated in Alicante, Barcelona, Berlin, Bern, Geneva, Den Haag, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Marseille, Paris, Tenerife.
As of January 2017, the picture on the card should be ICAO compliant, that is following the same rules as for a passport photo : the image should be straight looking, centered with neutral expression with the eyes open and no hair obscuring the face in particular.
The size of a credit card, the new kids-ID cards have 3 main functions today.
- Firstly, they serve as an electronic national ID document for Belgian children, containing all necessary ID information as well as a photo of the child, both visible on the card and securely stored on the microprocessor.
The names of the child’s parents also figure on the card. kids-ID can be used as an official travel document in most European countries as well as for traveling to some countries outside Europe, replacing the current Belgian ID certificate. The child must be traveling with a parent in possession of a valid ID card.
- Secondly, the cards serve to protect the child if they run into danger. Printed on the card body, a special hotline number is visible and designed to notify the next of kin or a friend if the child is lost, or is the victim of an accident or any other unfortunate event.
When the card is issued, the parent or guardian goes on the web or directly dial the hotline number and supplies a list of up to seven contact telephone numbers of adults who will take responsibility for the child.
www.alloparents.be or www.halloouders.be
These could include parents’ cell phone numbers, office lines, home etc. The emergency notification system hotline number is called, the caller is required to enter the child’s 11-digit National Registry number. They are then immediately put through to the first person on the list – normally the child’s parent or guardian. If this person is not available, the caller is immediately connected to the second number on the list, and so on until somebody is available. If, in the unlikely event of nobody on the list being available, the call is then immediately transferred to the Belgian Child Focus hotline, open 24 hours-a-day.
The kids-ID account can be accessed on-line or by telephone. The parent inputs their five-digit access code from the card mailing document, followed by the child’s National Registry number, and can then register their chosen contact numbers, in order of priority.
- Thirdly, thanks to an integrated PIN, the kids-ID card can also be used on the Internet for safer access to online chat and to use online services that require ID, This authentication certificate can be issued at the age of six. The cards, which are highly-secure and virtually impossible to fake, are available to all Belgian children aged 12 and under, and open up a whole range of future possibilities. Other potential uses could include accessing library books, sport club membership or healthcare access.
Kids
ID : much
more than a
smart document
Kids-ID is the combination
of an interactive
protection service, an internet service, and a specific version of the Belgian national
ID is
a clear success.
It is a fine example of
cooperation with
Child Focus,
the Foundation
for Missing
and Sexually-
Abused Children,
a member
of MissingChildrenEurope.
As of 2016, communications is mainly done
by local authorities and are focused on parents.
2016 Facts and Figures on the kids-ID initiative
- An
innovation from Ministry of Interior, Child Focus, Fedict, and National Registry authorities
- Average
price is 6 euros
but free
emergency
service
- 3 year validadity
- A pilot in 2007 and national
roll-out in 2009
- Over 3 M cards issued at mid
2016 – 1,000 every day
- Activation rate is
5%
Read the Press Release
