New Jersey League of Municipalities Magazine - Kevin and Avonte's Law Fills a Need to Help People with Autism, Alzheimer's

Op-Ed

By Chris Smith

During the 1980s, when a child went missing, the nation knew by the photos on the side of a milk carton. As a young father myself, like all parents at the time, the images of these missing children resonated with me: I deeply empathized with the parents and prayed for the safe return of their son or daughter.

When a child goes missing today, we get an Amber Alert message on our phones and see the Facebook posts and tweets from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, child welfare organizations and local law enforcement offices.

Increasingly, though, law enforcement officers are not only searching for children and young adults who are taken by bad actors seeking to do them harm, but also for children and young adults with developmental disabilities, such as autism, or Alzheimer's patients, who wander from a safe area or caretaker.

It's estimated that 40 percent of children with autism have wandered from their homes, their schools or their local parks. Much like the children on the milk cartons, we know that their safe return is dependent on time and training.

That's why I have introduced Kevin and Avonte's law in the House of Representatives, to help equip local law enforcement with the technology and training to find these children and return them safely to their parents or guardians.

My bill will make grants available to law enforcement agencies such as municipal police and non-profits to provide training to prevent wandering and implement lifesaving technology programs to find individuals who have wandered.

This legislation will reauthorize and expand an existing program, the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, to include children with a developmental disability--such as autism--and rename it the "Missing Americans Alert Program." The Missing Americans Alert Program will be used to provide grants to law enforcement agencies, public safety agencies and non-profit organizations to promote initiatives that will reduce the risk of injury and death relating to the wandering characteristics of some children with autism, as well as individuals with Alzheimer's. Kevin and Avonte's Law will amend and reauthorize the program at $10 million over 5 years.

Funding can be used to provide proactive educational programing to prevent wandering such as providing prevention and response information, including online training resources, to families or caretakers of individuals who wander. Additionally, funding can be used to provide education and training to first responders, school personnel, clinicians, and the public in order to recognize and respond to endangered missing individuals and facilitate their rescue and recovery. Funding can also be used for innovative locative technology to facilitate rescue and recovery.

As the co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Autism Caucus, I understand the devastating consequences from which wandering can result: the legislation is named in honor of two boys with autism, Kevin Curtis and Avonte Oquendo, who both wandered from safety and tragically drowned.

According to a 2016 report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), New Jersey has the highest prevalence rate of autism in any state in the CDC study, with 1 in 41 children on the spectrum--a 12 percent increase in the last two years. While wandering safety and prevention programs for children with autism are currently in place and making a positive impact through law enforcement agencies, I've heard from constituents that there aren't enough resources to support these critical programs and that families who need them often don't have access.

Enactment of Kevin and Avonte's law will help change that.

The Senate passed its version of Kevin and Avonte's law in July 2016. This is a step forward in the effort to keep children with autism and seniors with Alzheimer's safe. I'll continue to fight for passage of this legislation in the House to ensure this bill is enacted and helps to keep children and adults with autism and Alzheimer's, respectively, safe in New Jersey, and in all communities across the country.

This much needed, bipartisan legislation is supported by a number of autism, Alzheimer's and children's groups, including Autism Speaks, Autism New Jersey, the Autism Society, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, The ARC, the Alzheimer's Association, and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

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