HHS launches autistic missing persons alert initiative

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Friday a new federal initiative to improve preparedness and response efforts when individuals with autism are reported missing.

The agency will partner with the Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to strengthen coordination among emergency management agencies, law enforcement, first responders and community partners nationwide.

Called the National Autism Missing and Endangered Person Alert Initiative, the program reflects a shared federal commitment to treat high-risk, autism-related missing person cases with appropriate urgency, according to HHS.

“When an autistic child or adult goes missing, every minute matters,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “President Trump has made improving the lives of Americans with autism and their families a priority. We are bringing federal, state and local partners together to improve prevention, speed the response, and help bring autistic children and adults home safely.”

HHS said it will also establish a national framework of best practices for autism-related missing person cases, which will aim to address the leading causes of preventable injury and death among individuals with autism, like accidental drowning.

The initiative will build on existing missing and endangered person alert capabilities that help to get “critical information to authorities and the public quickly and helps bring missing persons home safely,” Kennedy said during a press conference.

“Alert faster, search smarter and save lives,” he added.

But Kennedy stressed HHS has only just started to design a framework; the system doesn’t exist yet.

“If an autistic loved one goes missing, people should call 911 immediately. And be ready to share critical information about communication, behavior, about the attraction of water,” Kennedy said.

Approximately half of children with autism engage in wandering behavior at some point, HHS said.

Drowning accounts for the majority of wandering fatalities, and many missing individuals are found close to their last known location.

The National Autism Safety Council reports that an average of eight children with autism die each month in the U.S. following wandering or elopement, most often from drowning in nearby water.