Jackson Free Press

With little notice, the Mississippi Department of Human Services rolled out a program that requires poor parents and guardians to scan an appendage before they can drop off or leave with their little one.

At first blush, it’s difficult to see the downside of implementing the new beefed-up child-protection measure, especially in today’s world where finding registered sex offenders is easy as a clicking a mouse.

As far as we can tell, so far, child security didn’t figure too prominently in DHS’ decision to require the biometric scans. The main purpose of the scanners seems to be to regulate how the state pays child-care centers that accept subsidies designed to enable parents who might otherwise have to stay home to take care of young children to get an education or go to work.

To say that the change has operators ticked off would be an understatement. They’re already annoyed that state budget cutbacks have greatly reduced the number of certificates issued and that they now have to devote precious resources to fiddle with the glitchy scanner system.

What’s even more infuriating is that center operators have had to fork over their bank account info to Xerox, which sold the scanners to the state, and are on the hook if the machines get damaged.

Above all, child-care centers are scratching their heads most about the fact that they haven’t gotten a clear answer from DHS on why the change was made in the first place.

In many ways, the introduction of the scanners is reminiscent of efforts in Mississippi and elsewhere to introduce voter-ID requirements, the argument being that extra regulations are necessary to protect against misdeeds that may be taking place (but likely are not).

For anyone who doesn’t already have a state-issued photo identification card, voter ID laws force citizens to go out of their way to get a government ID card in order to exercise one’s constitutional rights. The rule could result in citizens in giving up their rights—to cast a ballot in the case of voter ID to apply for public benefits with the finger scanners. And we sure hope DHS wouldn’t do this on purpose to reduce the number of people claiming child-care help.

As with voter ID, the finger-scan policy represents a particular hardship for women, poor people and people of color who are likely to employ an intergenerational approach to child care whereby family members and neighbors all pitch in to make sure kids get to and from school safely and on time.

The DHS threatens to disrupt these systems by requiring every single person who may be responsible for picking up a child from day care to get scanned.

For the time being, only 20 centers have the scanners, but the state plans to introduce them statewide by February 2013. A Senate hearing takes place on Oct. 10. If you want to speak up for your rights, plan to attend.