Seeing Father’s Day With Fresh Eyes

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By Mike Hill

I work at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and I’m also a father.

Father’s Day is a day when dads celebrate with their children. As we celebrate Father’s Day with our families this weekend, it’s very easy to forget about the fathers out there whose children are missing.

These dads will not be celebrating. They’ll be clinging to the hope that one day, there will be a phone call or a knock on the door.

I can only imagine the sound of that knock and the hope that these fathers have that their children are behind that door, safe and sound.

What it must feel like to embrace your child after they have gone missing and returned home is beyond comprehension. Some children may never return home, and many families will never have the answers they desperately want. For these fathers, hope is all they have. Hope that their child is out there somewhere, trying to find their way home.

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                                   Mike Hill

I started my career at NCMEC in 2002 when I was 23 years old. I became a father for the first time in 2013 and again in 2016. My daughters have completely changed my perspective about what I do for a living. The issues I deal with every day are what drive me. But becoming a father has made my job all the more personal.

My girls are my heart and soul. I live every moment for them.  They are truly my whole world. A child is a precious gift, and my wife and I are truly blessed to have two healthy children of our own.

As anyone who works at NCMEC can tell you, it’s easy to grow accustomed to hearing about cases of missing children, child sex trafficking or online predators. The FBI received more than 460,000 reports of missing kids last year alone. Our CyberTipline received 4.4 million reports last year of suspected child sexual exploitation. But not until you actually become a parent, does it really hit home. At least that’s the way it was for me.

I want to raise strong, empowered girls, who will one day grow into strong, empowered women. I believe that working at NCMEC has given me a head start and empowered me with the knowledge to keep my family safer.

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                                                                        Photos by Sarah Baker (NCMEC)

I kiss my babies goodbye every morning I leave for work, and I pick them up and hug them as soon as I get home. My 2 ½-year-old thinks daddy goes to work to play with Clicky, our NetSmartz Internet Safety Robot.

What she doesn’t know, is that her daddy is Clicky, inside and out. For 15 years, NCMEC has been teaching children to be safer online with the prevention education program, NetSmartz (www.netsmartz.org.)

I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to provide the voice of Clicky for the majority of my adult life. I’ve also been able to feel what it’s like to look through his eyes as I’m high fiving kids in the Clicky costume.

To children like my daughters, Clicky is real. He teaches kids to be empowered so they can make safer decisions online and in the real world. He’s a hero and a role model to children, and in some small way, even though he’s a fictional robot, I look up to him. The same way I hope my girls will one day, look up to me and be proud of their father for what he chose to do for a living.

This weekend, as my family celebrates Father’s Day, I’m going to take a moment to remember those dads who aren’t celebrating. Those dads whose heart must sink deep into their chests every time someone knocks on the door. Those dads who are waiting for their babies to come home.

Hope is all they have…and hope is why we’re here.

“Today and every day, I honor your memory, Lori”

By Sheryl Stokes

The murder of three Oklahoma Girl Scouts in 1977 shocked the nation. On June 13 that year, Michelle Guse, 9, Denise Milner, 10, and Lori Farmer, 8, were beaten, raped and murdered on their first day at camp.  Lori was my childhood friend. Her murder changed me and the course of my life. It’s hard to talk about, even 39 years later, but I will try.

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Lori lived one street over and rode the bus with me to school.  My first memory of Lori was my first day of school after moving to Oklahoma.  She gave me a seat on the bus when no one else wanted to let the “new kid” sit down, smiling the whole time.  She was a beautiful and kind little girl who was protective of her siblings and inspired me to love to read almost as much as she did.

I found out about the murders on the news. As an 8-year-old child, I watched in horror. I heard what happened in detail. I saw the photos.  I remember hearing Lori’s name over and over and thinking to myself, this can’t be our Lori.  It rocked our community and our neighborhood.

Shortly after it happened, I remember hearing adults say the murderer was still out there and that he might come back and hurt more children.  Words can mean something completely different to a child than to an adult.  To me, “out there” meant outside my window or out in our neighborhood.  Coming back meant that maybe he had been here before.

Back then, there was not really any help for the families, community and friends.  We were left to figure it out on our own.  For a long time, I would wait until everyone else went to sleep, and I would take a pillow and my dog and spend the night in my closet. I was terrified that the murderer would come back. I knew my dog would bark if someone approached, and it was really soothing to pet him and talk to him about how I felt.  I remember him licking the tears off my face as I poured my heart out to him night after night.  My heart ached for all of the families, and I wondered how Lori’s family was ever going to be okay again. I really missed my friend.

              Sheryl, 8                                                              Lori, 8

Ten months after the largest manhunt in Oklahoma history, Gene Leroy Hart was arrested and charged in their murders. At his trial, at which he was acquitted, there was a big crowd of people at the courthouse holding up signs in support of Hart, but no one was holding up signs for the children.  What about the three beautiful little girls who were murdered?  Who was advocating for them and supporting their families?  I knew from a young age I was going to be an advocate for kids when I grew up. I wanted to make sure families and friends would not be alone if the unthinkable happened to them.

Many years later, I saw John Walsh on “America’s Most Wanted.”  He was the first person I had ever seen who was really angry there was nowhere for families to turn for help when their children went missing. His son, Adam, was abducted from a Florida shopping mall in 1981 and later found murdered. When he talked about Adam, I could see the love he had for that little boy. I could also see his anger.

Our situations were different, but I could relate to his anger.  I was angry too.  I was angry that Lori’s life was taken on purpose, and I was angry when I thought about what her last moments on Earth must have been like.  I was angry at myself because I wasn’t there to help her.  I was angry that no one was held accountable, and that people were forgetting that it ever happened. I was angry that no one was at the courthouse with signs supporting the children and their families.

I was also in awe of how John and his wife, Revé, took something so terrible and made something so amazing: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.  What a beautiful way to honor Adam’s life and make meaning of a tragedy.  John and Revé became my earthly heroes and, as a child, I hoped to be advocates just like them one day.

Six years ago, I got my wish. I began working for the national center they founded, known as NCMEC. I’m a specialist in the Family Advocacy Division. Every day I get to advocate for children and help their families through one of the most difficult and isolating times in their lives.  FAD provides crisis intervention and helps families of missing and exploited children find support in their communities so they don’t have to go through something like this alone.  

Thirty-nine years later, I’m still waiting for answers. I still believe the murders will be solved.  I live each day with continued hope for answers for the families. Someone knows what happened, and my hope is someday that person will come forward.

I have photos on my desk of Lori, Denise and Michelle that I see every morning when I walk into my Alexandria, Virginia office.  I wish I could tell Lori how much she impacted my life, and that I have held her closely in my heart for 39 years.  I wish I could tell her that I have a close relationship with her family today, and that they are some of the most resilient and loving people I know.  Today and every day, I honor your memory, Lori.

Dear Morgan: We’ll never stop searching for you

Tomorrow, June 9, marks 21 years since Morgan Nick was abducted from a Little League Baseball field in Alma, Arkansas at the age of 6. Her family has never stopped searching for her, and will never give up.
Below is a letter that her mother penned for her 26th birthday.
View and share her poster here.

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(Morgan Nick, missing since 1995, and her kitten Emily.)

Dearest Morgan,

Today is your 26th birthday. Today marks twenty birthdays without you here. We miss you so desperately and our hearts are ragged with grief. We have searched for you every single day since the day you were kidnapped from us at the Little League Baseball field in Alma, Arkansas.

You were only 6 years old. We went with our friends to watch one of their children play in the game. You threw your arms around my neck in a bear hug, planted a kiss on my cheek, and ran to catch fireflies with your friends.

It is the last time that I saw you. There have been so many days since then of emptiness and heartache.

On this birthday I choose to think about your laughter, your smile, the twinkle in your sparkling blue eyes. I celebrate who you are and the deep and lasting joy that you bring to our family.

I smile today as I think about your 5th birthday. For that birthday, we took you to the Humane Society with the promise of adopting a kitten. You, my precious little girl with your big heart, took one look around the cat room and picked out the ugliest, scrawniest, most pitiful looking kitten in the entire place. Such a tiny little thing, that it was mostly all eyes.

Dad and I used our best parental powers of persuasion to get you to pick a different kitten, to look at the older cats, to choose any other feline besides that poor ugly kitty. It looked like someone had taken the worst leftover colors of mud, stirred them together, and used them to design a kitten.

You planted your five-year-old feet, looked us straight in the eye and declared that this was the kitten you were taking home. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You would not budge and you resolutely refused to take a second look at any other cat or kitten in the room.  You had a fire of conviction in your heart.

The unexpected obstacle we faced was that we were not able to adopt on that Saturday, but had to wait until Monday to finalize. For the rest of the weekend and all day Monday, you fretted and pouted and worried that someone else would take “your” kitten home with them. We tried to assure you that no one else would want that cat. We didn’t want to say it was because it was so tiny, or so ugly, or so-nothing-at-all-but-eyes. You could see only beauty and you were in love.

Finally, Monday afternoon came and dad brought it home with him after work. In that moment, your daddy was your biggest hero because he had saved your kitten.

You tenderly snuggled that little bit of fur into your arms and declared that her name was Emily. You adored your new kitten and she loved you right back. Emily gained some weight and filled out a bit. Her colors started to take shape. We began to see the same beauty in her that you had seen in that very first moment.

Where you went, Emily went. You played together. You ate together. You watched Barney together. You slept together.

Which brings me to the photo. It captures everything we love about you. I would slip into your room late at night and stand there, watching the two of you sleeping together, in awe of your sweetness, and my heart would squeeze a little tighter.

So many birthdays have passed since then. So many days since a stranger ripped you from our hearts.

My sweet girl, if you should happen to read this, we want you to know how very important and special you are to us. You are a blessing we cannot live without. We feel cheated by every day that goes by and we do not see your smile, hear your bubbly laughter, or listen to your thoughts and ideas. We have never stopped believing that we will find you. We are saving all our hugs and kisses for you.

Please be strong and brave, with a fire of conviction in your heart, just like the day you picked out your kitten!

On this birthday we promise you that we will always fight for you. We will bring you back home to our family where you belong. We will always love you! We will never give up.

Love Mom & Dad

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Launch of #RockOneSock Campaign Raises Awareness for Missing Children’s Day

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To everyone who joined the #RockOneSock campaign in the month of May – Thank You! We here at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children were blown away by the support and awareness that the campaign helped to garner for missing children. 

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We were touched to see photos from family members of missing children, survivors, celebrities, athletes, members of the media, advocates, mommy bloggers, law enforcement, corporate partners, pets and many more. People were wildly creative and energetic with their Rock One Sock photos and the campaign even trended nationwide on Twitter on May 25, Missing Children’s Day. Overall the campaign truly helped to raise awareness and support for the work and programs of the National Center and, more importantly, it stood as a symbol of hope for the families of missing children that we stand by them and we will never stop searching.

So to each and every person (and pet) who donned one sock during the month of May, we say thanks.

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Below are just a handful of the posts from the campaign that show how much fun everyone had while participating:

A photo posted by Dance Labz (@dancelabz) on


You can view many more #RockOneSock images by searching for that hashtag on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. 

Missing Children’s Day 2016

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When 6-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school in New York City on May 25, 1979, there was no national response or database in place to aid in locating him. Two years later, when Adam Walsh, also 6, was abducted from a retail store, there was still no regional or national response system in place to help local law enforcement search for him. These prominent missing children cases and others pushed Congress to enact the Missing Children’s Act in 1982 which mandated the entry of missing child information into the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database, known as NCIC. It was also the launching pad for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

National Missing Children’s Day was first proclaimed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan and is observed every year on May 25, the anniversary of the disappearance of Etan, to encourage parents, guardians, caregivers and others concerned with the well-being of children to make child safety a priority.

“The search for Etan Patz has continued for more than three decades,” said Robert Lowery, vice president of the Missing Children’s Division at NCMEC. “We never forget a child no matter how long they have been missing. National Missing Children’s Day honors this commitment to help locate and recover missing children like Etan by reminding parents, guardians, families and communities that every child deserves a safe childhood.”

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The good news is more missing children come home safely today than at any other point in history. As for Etan, his case may finally be on the verge of closure as the Manhattan District Attorney considers trying his case a second time after the recent trail against Pedro Hernandez ended in a mistrial. Regardless of the outcomes of the trial, Etan’s legacy lives on through the work of NCMEC each day and by bringing awareness to missing children each year on May 25.

“National Missing Children’s Day is a day to remember Etan and the many other missing children who are still out there – we never, ever stop looking,” Lowery said. “It is also a day to take action: Look at a poster of a missing child, share it or take time to talk with a child about safety.”

FIVE WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

ONE: ROCK ONE SOCK

In honor of National Missing Children’s Day (May 25), the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children launched a new nationwide campaign: Rock One Sock!  We’re asking everyone to rock one sock for missing kids, take a “footsie” and post to social media using hashtag #RockOneSock. Let’s start a movement!

Our friends at Discovery Communications helped us create this awesome PSA. Check it out!

TWO: SHARE A POSTER

On National Missing Children’s Day this year, can you take a moment to share the poster of a missing child in your state? Just one small act can bring a child home safe. Sharing a child’s image is law enforcement’s single most effective tool in recovering missing children.

CLICK HERE to find a poster of a child missing in your state.

THREE: KNOW WHAT TO DO

Know what to do if your child goes missing. Create a child ID kit for each of your children and update it at least once a year.

FOUR: TALK TO YOUR KIDS

Know what to tell your children about child abduction. Simply teaching your children about “stranger danger” may leave them vulnerable to other forms of child abduction. According to NCMEC’s research, teaching our children to avoid strangers is not enough. We must also teach them how to recognize and respond to risky situations. In fact, 83% of children who escaped their would-be abductors kicked, yelled and pulled away to escape.

Read more parent tips on http://www.kidsmartz.org/ to make sure your children are prepared.

FIVE: TEACH YOUR KIDS ONLINE SAFETY

More children age 12-17 are online and on mobile devices than any generation before. This poses a unique challenge for parents to ensure the safety of their children from online threats. NCMEC’s NetSmartz program provides tips and discussion topics for parents to teach their kids how to responsibly and safely use digital citizenship. There are also sections for teachers and law makers, as well as cartoons and comics for kids and teens. http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents

No matter how you get involved with Missing Children’s Day this year make sure you’re doing something in the fight to #KeepKidsSafe. And remember, one small act can bring a child home safe.

Rock One Sock this May for Missing Children!

In honor of National Missing Children’s Day (May 25), the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children launched a new nationwide campaign: Rock One Sock!

We’re asking everyone to rock one sock for missing kids, take a “footsie” and post to social media using hashtag #RockOneSock. Let’s start a movement!

Our friends at Discovery Communications helped us create this awesome PSA. Check it out!

Why Rock One Sock?

We know that missing children’s issues do not affect every household, but this is a small gesture you can do to show that you stand in solidarity with missing children and their families.

After you post your footsie, continue to spread awareness and support by tagging friends to either do the #RockOneSock challenge or make a donation to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.  Need some inspiration? Check out what others are posting!

A photo posted by NCMEC (@1800thelost) on

A video posted by NCMEC (@1800thelost) on

A photo posted by NCMEC (@1800thelost) on

Sextortion, Technology, Philanthropy Heroes Honored at NCMEC Hope Awards

by Barbara Worth; photos by Sarah Baker, Carol Summers and Amanda Newcomb 

She never saw him, but through her computer screen, the stranger got right in her face. “Naked pictures,” remembers Ashley Reynolds, then 14. “The subject line said something about naked pictures that he has of me.”  

He kept messaging, demanding explicit photos. “He was not going to stop,” Reynolds says in an FBI videotape. “He was set on sharing my picture with whoever he could to ruin my reputation.” She was frightened just enough to send seven pictures, then more, and more, responding to escalating demands and further blackmail until she was sending 60 pictures a day.   

Reynolds had been ensnared in sextortion. The torment lasted months, until her mother discovered it and called The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline – the national mechanism for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation. NCMEC contacted the FBI, which not only found and successfully prosecuted the offender, but uncovered computer records showing he had terrorized nearly 350 other girls in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

This week at NCMEC’s 2016 Hope Awards, Reynolds was honored with the “Courage Award” for bravely taking on a predator and going public about her ordeal in hopes of helping others.  Also at the dinner in Washington, Facebook was honored with the “Charles B. Wang International Children’s Award” for its commitment to child safety and its innovative use of technology to mobilize the public on behalf of NCMEC’s mission. And a special Hope Award was given in memoriam to Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III who was deeply committed to the protection of children. He used his two terms as Delaware’s attorney general to change the way his state prosecuted crimes against children and to rescue children from abusive situations.

Every year, NCMEC celebrates inspiring work done to protect children. The Hope Awards recognize leaders in child safety, honor survivors and remember children who are still missing. “We hope one day all missing children come home and that there will be no more exploitation,” says John F. Clark, NCMEC’s president and CEO. 

In hopes of warning and educating others about sextortion, Reynolds has chosen to speak about her ordeal to children, parents and law enforcement. The lead investigator who helped track down and arrest her abuser, FBI special agent Larry Meyer, appeared with Reynolds on the Hope Awards stage. "I’m thrilled that she’s getting this award,“ says Meyer. "She has done a great job in bringing this new trend in child sexual exploitation to the public.”  

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(Photo: Ashley Reynolds  along with her parents, actor Bryan Cranston and FBI Special Agent Larry Meyer) 

Meyer said in an interview that the FBI has identified 115 victims of this one sextortion scam alone. There are likely many more victims.  At the Hope Awards, Reynolds said that as our virtual world grows, sextortion "is only getting worse." As she puts it, "I was virtually kidnapped…I was abducted by a stranger…my parents saw me every single day but they had no idea." 

Though sextortion is made possible by technology, technology is also being enlisted to fight both it and other forms of child sexual exploitation – and to help find missing children. Facebook has been a long-time partner in NCMEC’s fight to protect children and has been a leader in the effort to apply technology and innovation to the issues of missing and exploited children. The social media giant was one of the first adopters of PhotoDNA, a technology that uses hash values to find similar images among millions. Facebook’s use of this technology has vastly elevated the voluntary detection of suspected child sexual abuse images and helped remove countless children from abusive situations. Facebook’s ability to connect with the public is an incredible asset in sharing information about missing children. Facebook is also a secondary distributor in the AMBER Alert program and has donated tools to help increase the number of people who see posts about missing children. 

"I’m really excited that our service is playing a vital role in this incredible program,” said Facebook’s Joel Kaplan. He added that Facebook is now working to expand the presence of AMBER Alerts to countries around the world.

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(Photo:  Joel Kaplan, Facebook vice president, public policy who accepted the Charles B. Wang International Children’s Award, stands with NCMEC board member Emily Vacher, Facebook’s director of trust and safety, and actor and child advocate Bryan Cranston) 

Raising awareness about the need to protect children was part of Beau Biden’s life mission. As Delaware’s attorney general, Beau created a Child Predator Task Force to track down and arrest people who committed sex offenses against children. The task force convicted more than 200 predators and rescued more than 120 children from abusive situations. “The Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children” was founded after his death on May 30, 2015 at the age of 46.

His younger brother Hunter accepted the award posthumously for Beau, whom NCMEC co-founder John Walsh called “our star attorney general of all time." Before his death last year, Beau Biden had spoken about safety to some 30,000 kids – visiting middle and high schools after work, after his national guard duty – staying until every kid’s question was answered. "He was tireless, guided by a firm sense of right and wrong,” said Hunter Biden at the Hope Awards. "We need more Beau Bidens in the world. I wish we still had one.“(Photo: Beau Biden, Feb. 3, 1969 – May 30, 2015) 

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 (Photo:  Hunter Biden accepts Hope Award on behalf of his brother, Beau Biden, from NCMEC co-founders John and Reve’ Walsh. Also shown is Manus Cooney, NCMEC board chair.) 

Next year, NCMEC will celebrate more inspiring stories and astounding dedication to the work of helping children.  We thank all who support the critical mission of our organization and the partners and friends who help make our work possible.  

A Father’s Letter to his Missing Son: “We have missed out on a lot of important things together…”

Eleven-year-old Joshua Hale was allegedly abducted by his mother, Erin Hale on November 3, 2015. A felony warrant was issued for Erin on December 3, 2015.

Today, Joshua’s father, Mike, has penned a heartfelt letter to his missing son pleading for his safe return home.

Joshua,

I can’t explain how much I miss seeing your smiling face… It has been almost six months since I have seen your face or heard your voice. There is not a minute that goes by that I don’t think about you.

I hope you’re ok… I hope you’re well. I’m not sure why this has happened to us, but I hope you come home to your family and friends that miss and love you. We continue to look and search for you. We will always continue to look and search for you. I pray each night that you call. I pray each night that you will return home to us. 

I miss you, Bud…more than you will ever know. 

You will never know how sad I am without you. We have missed out on a lot of important things together… I think of the minutes, hours and days that have passed and the experiences that we have not been able to share together.  We love you. We miss you with all of our hearts we hope you come home soon.

We love you,

Dad

Knowledge is Life for Children with Autism Who Wander: Ask This Mom

By Barbara Worth, graphics and photos by Sarah Baker

The nightmare: You’re standing in the middle of traffic on a busy expressway. You have no shirt, no shoes, no belt, and your pants are slipping off. Cars are speeding past; any second, one could hit you. You try to call for help, but you cannot speak: You can make only unintelligible noises. Drivers are honking at you, yelling at you, swearing at you. You crouch, hands over your ears, seeing no way to save yourself. Finally, you wake up, relieved to know it was just a bad dream.

For you, that is. For one 12-year-old boy this past February, it was reality. Like many children with autism, the boy is a wanderer. Kids like him tend to walk or run away from safe environments to get close to their often-dangerous fixations, such as traffic signs or, most often, bodies of water. Many move so fast that first responders can’t move fast enough, and the children don’t survive.

Between 2011-2015, there were 98 deaths of children with autism who wandered, the vast majority from drowning, according the National Autism Association.  

The boy in our story survived. He is alive today because after he wandered onto the Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City, he was spotted by Ashlee Cody, a mom whose 7-year-old daughter has autism. When she saw the boy caught in traffic, she says something in her knew he was “just like my daughter. He didn’t know where he was and what he was doing .”

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Cody began calling out to other drivers, “He has autism!” She parked her SUV. A pregnant woman agreed to watch Cody’s two children, and a jogger walked with Cody into traffic. Together, they guided the boy to safety. Cody retrieved a pair of noise-canceling headphones from her car and placed them over the boy’s ears. He calmed down instantly. “I gave him soothing things,” she says: a juice box, an orange lollipop, an electronic tablet so he could draw. When the police arrived, the lost, misunderstood boy who had been helplessly trapped in traffic, “was so happy…he was hugging me,” says Cody. “He was drawing happy faces.”

Knowledge. Understanding. Compassion. They made all the difference to this boy, and to other children with autism who wandered, went missing and were safely recovered. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recently joined forces with Autism Speaks and The Massachusetts State Police to train about 400 first responders at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on how to effectively search for and recover these children. Their most important takeaway, according Mike Murphy, program manager in NCMEC’s Missing Children Division, was that “Every autism call is both critical and unique.” Critical because of the high mortality rate among wanderers, and unique because the signs of autism can be very confusing if first responders aren’t familiar with them.

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Photo of attendees at Foxborough seminar.

For example, children with autism may be non-verbal, so an officer who knows that won’t be surprised if they don’t respond to simple questions. Some children might speak, but only use lines from favorite movies. Others may simply repeat words spoken to them. Still others might appear to be deaf, only to run away if they hear something that frightens them, such as sirens, lights, or an authority figure saying, “I don’t know what to do with this kid.”

Like Cody, a trained officer will understand that noise-making could be a child’s attempt to say, “I need help,” in the only way he knows how. Seeing a child cover his ears with his hands would be a sign that he is over-stimulated, as Cody understood when she gave the noise-canceling headphones to the boy she led from traffic. Further, children with autism might not perceive that an officer’s uniform connotes authority, and they might walk away instead of showing respect. Or, they might simply be afraid, as they are often bullied. If officers know these things, and know that these children commonly wander to bodies of water or into traffic, or shed their clothes, they should be less likely to mistakenly suspect that the children are on drugs or should be handcuffed – an action that Cody stresses would further overwhelm a child with autism.

…and there are many of them. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 68 children is diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. More than half of these children are prone to wandering. The behavior is known as “wandering” or “elopement” in the autism community, but “bolt” may be a better descriptor. Many of these children take off in a flash.  NCMEC’s Murphy warns first responders, “You will be encountering someone with autism, I promise you. It’s not if:  It’s when.”

Tracy Eldridge, chief dispatcher at the Rochester Communications Center in Massachusetts, wants to be prepared for the call before it comes in. “We are going to be ahead of it, not behind it,” says Eldridge, who attended the training session in Foxborough. Drawing from material provided by NCMEC and leading autism advocacy groups, she’s working with parents and caregivers to set up “Operation Special Alert.” It will consist of detailed information about local residents with special needs, including autism, and procedures for her dispatchers to follow. They will know to ask callers, who may be panicked, if a wandering child is verbal, needs medication, has specific triggers or fears, whether they’ve wandered before and where to – information that sets up a correct response for those headed to the search area. 

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Photo of Tracy Eldridge, Chief Dispatcher, Rochester Communications Center, Rochester, MA. Courtesy Tracy Eldridge.

Moms like Cody know firsthand that such informed responses are vital.  She’s aware of the possibility that the next wandering child caught in traffic could be her daughter. She says, “I may need somebody to help rescue Peyton someday.”

To report a missing child, including one you suspect may have autism, call law enforcement and The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678). To get a copy of NCMEC’s guide for investigators go to www.missingkids.org/lawenforcement.  More resources are at www.awaare.org, a collaboration of autism agencies providing resources and tools, including the Big Red Safety Box.

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Advocates for people with special needs on the field at Gillette Stadium following first responder training sessions.