Michael Pouls

An entrepreneur with a passion for helping children and their families, Michael Pouls offers comprehensive support in terms of child safety through his company Kidz-IDz. The organization offers child safety products for families in Greater Philadelphia and around the country. In particular, Mr. Pouls and Kidz-IDz sell a set of photo identification cards for children to carry with them at all times. The hardbound identity document (ID) cards feature a color photo of the child, key descriptions about them, and an emergency contact list with three phone numbers.

Furthermore, Michael Pouls developed these cards to carry specific features that allow for a fast and efficient response in a medical emergency, including a parent's signature to act on medical emergencies in case they cannot be reached. The ID cards, which can be attached to a special breakaway safety lanyard and necklace sold by Kidz-IDz, may be worn outside of school or home. Michael Pouls started Kidz-IDz in 2002 after years of research on missing children's cases. Inspired by a Reader's Digest parenting quiz, he realized that carrying up-to-date information on a child proves critical in the event that he or she is lost. A recent photo remains especially important. Speaking to the head of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Mr. Pouls learned that parents report a child missing once every 30 seconds, the equivalent of more than 1 million a year in the United States alone. In addition, the chances of a child's successful rescue decline dramatically after the first few hours of an abduction. From this information, he developed Kidz-IDz's product line. In addition to photo IDs and emergency medical cards, Kidz-IDz sells fingerprinting and DNA kits for children, an electronic ID based on the protocols of the AMBER Alert Program and Child Abduction Emergency (CAE) system for efficient reporting. Finally, Kidz-IDz offers Safetyville, a fun and educational board game that teaches children what to do if they become lost and how to deal with strangers.