Dive Brief:
- The federal government announced it will develop the first national alert system for missing children and adults with autism — a step that could help with the problem of “elopement” or when students wander away from schools.
- About 53% of autism-related elopement fatalities in 2025 involved children ages 5-9, according to the National Autism Safety Council, and five fatalities occurred in school settings.
- To address the problem of elopement, schools can work with parents to document the possibility in a student's individualized education program, report any such incidents, and use prevention measures such as putting out-of-reach locks on doors, according to research and advocacy groups.
Dive Insight:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with other federal agencies, is developing the alert system. The goal is to strengthen response coordination among emergency personnel, first responders and community partners, according to an announcement by HHS last week.
Elopement typically includes situations where wandering away from care may result in injury or harm — and differs from brief moments when a child may run away from a caregiver, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some children with disabilities, such as those with autism or intellectual disabilities, may have challenges understanding safety issues and communicating with others, CDC said.
According to the National Autism Safety Council, there have been 52 autism-related elopement fatalities of children ages 5-17 so far this year. About half of all children with autism attempted to "elope" or wander away from a caregiver at least once after age 4, according to a 2012 study published in Pediatrics.
According to a 2018 article published in Teaching Exceptional Children, parents, teachers and administrators can work together on prevention strategies such as securing classroom exits with locks that are hard for students to reach or manipulate. School teams can also set definitions for elopement behaviors and create a functional behavioral assessment that identifies triggers for the behavior and provides interventions for individual students, according to the article.
In Maryland, a 2025 law requires certain public and private schools to notify parents if their child elopes from school.
HHS said it is working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on national guidance and best practices to help states and localities determine how best to use existing Missing and Endangered Persons alert protocols for autistic individuals who wander away and are at imminent risk.
The goal is a more consistent, rapid, autism-informed response system, HHS said in an Aug. 21 statement announcing development of the new alert system.
“When an autistic child or adult goes missing, every minute matters,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in the statement. “We are bringing federal, state, and local partners together to improve prevention, speed the response, and help bring autistic children and adults home safely.”
Keith Wargo, CEO of Autism Speaks, praised the federal government's effort in a LinkedIn post on Sunday. He said Autism Speaks has worked for years on prevention and emergency response through advocacy for Kevin and Avonte’s Law and state-level efforts nationwide.
While Wargo said details remain to be understood about how the initiative will work, "the goal is one we should all share: preventing more families from experiencing those terrifying hours of not knowing, and making sure the right systems are in place when every minute counts," he said.
In an Aug. 24 email to K-12 Dive, Delancy Allred, public policy director at the Autism Society of America, underscored the importance of effective safety planning and coordinated emergency responses in homes, schools and communities.
"The success of this initiative will depend on how it is implemented and whether it reflects the experiences and needs of Autistic individuals and their families," Allred said.
