Just came across this unnerving article on TBO.com, a website partnered with the Tampa Tribune.

A task force for the state Department of Children and Families met in Tampa this morning to discuss the possibility of collecting DNA samples from children in state care, but ultimately decided against it.

The recommendation, made by law enforcement task force members, was aimed at collecting information for locating or identifying foster children.

This strikes me as a bit odd, though I wouldn’t put it past the State, with their voracious appetite for collecting the DNA of everyone they can.

Seems to me like the only times a foster child’s DNA would come in handy is if they turned up dead or had committed a crime. (When else does the state collect DNA? They certainly don’t DNA test every lollipop they find when they’re on the trial of a missing child.)

My mind’s not completely made up on this one: there is probably a value in the finality of being able to decisively pronounce that a dead body is a missing child’s, though we already have methods for doing that; there is probably a small value in being able to say that a crime was committed by a missing child, if just for those curious about the statistical occurrence of those things.

My gut reaction is my civil libertarian one: hands off my DNA. But now I’m really just scratching my head looking for the DCF’s argument on this one…

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