A mother is set to launch a new scheme to help lost children throughout the country be reunited with their parents, writes Rebecca Smith.

Adele Woodward will launch the IDU, Identify You, campaign on September 4 with a 5,000 loan from the Prince's Trust and backing from Barclays Bank.

Children can be registered on a national list and wear an identification badge or wrist-band. When the child becomes lost, whoever finds the youngster calls the freephone number and quotes the registration number, both shown on the badge. The worried parents call a freephone number and are told where the child is to be reunited. Registration costs 40 a year for up to two children in the same household.

Ms Woodward, 28, of Adderbury, near Banbury, said: "We label our suitcases, identi-chip our pets and record our bikes' serial numbers. Yet we've all taken our children out without so much as a name badge.

"Everyone knows it only takes a split second to lose sight of a small child on a beach or in a busy shop." She added: "We are launching a major nationwide initiative which enables lost children to be traced straight back to their parents in the time it takes to make a phone call.

Call 01295 817666.