In the United States alone, a child goes missing every 40 seconds. That’s more than 2,100 children per day.

To help parents should their child ever go missing, Cox Communications has partnered with Headline News (Turner Networks) to offer free digital fingerprinting for children of all ages during the Cox Family Safety Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday at the Cox Solutions Store, 3303 State St. in Santa Barbara.

Cox Family Safety Day will also include face-painting for the kids, information on Internet safety and TV parents controls, and home security demonstrations.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recommends that parents have their children fingerprinted, and have a current digital photo of their child, to assist law enforcement in their search. It’s also important for parents to have an up-to-date physical description of their child, yet 34% of parents don’t know their child’s exact height or weight.

At the Cox Family Safety Day, families will receive an 8.5-inch-by-11-inch printout for each child with their photo, digital fingerprints, and space for parents to fill in personal information such as weight and height. The digital fingerprints are given to the families, and are not kept in a database.

— Sarah Clark is the public affairs manager for Cox Communications.