Relates to establishing an electronic monitoring program for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder as well as other developmental disabilities

Summary of provisions

Section one of this bill amends the Public Health Law through the addition of a new section 2508 that requires the Commissioner of the Department of Health to adopt a program that provides electronic monitoring for children with autism spectrum disorder or another developmental disability so that a missing child can be geographically located when such a child cannot be accounted for.

Section two amends the Executive Law by adding a new subdivision 21 to section 837 which would provide that the Division of Criminal Justice Services, in cooperation with the Department of Health, shall make recommendations to law enforcement agencies regarding the risks and response techniques that should be taken into account concerning individuals who have certain disabilities and the use of electronic monitoring by such individuals.

Section three of this bill provides that this act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it shall have become a law.

Justification

Almost half of all children with autism have run away from home or gone missing at least once before the age of 17, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Aside from the quantity of these cases, the nature of missing child cases for law enforcement are ranked among the most difficult for them to handle largely due to the tactics used by investigators to find the children; search dogs, sirens, and yelling the child's name are often frightening for autistic children. There needs to be a tailored approach for finding children with autism that will be more effective in locating and retrieving them when they are missing. Further, the current GPS tracking devices that some autistic children wear often do not have a range large enough to accommodate the long distances that those children might travel.

On January 21st, 2014, the parents of Avonte Oquendo heard the news that no parents should ever have to hear. They were told that their child had died. Avonte, a 14 year old boy, had wandered out of his Queens school in October of 2013. His family, the community, and the New York Police Department searched for months and followed leads. Some leads indicated that Avonte was seen riding on the New York City subway, but those leads never fully panned out.

Unfortunately, events like these are all too common for children with autism, and the parents of these children know it. That is why Avonte's mother sent a note to his school warning them of Avonte's tendency to run.

At 2:30 PM on December 10, 2014, Jose Leon left his Yonkers school, but did not get on the bus to go home. Jose was found at 4:30 AM the next day in Dobbs Ferry. On the night of December 10, the temperatures were almost at the freezing point. While Jose returned to school two days later, if he had not been found, he could have died in the cold.

On February 2, 2015, a 10-year-old girl in Independence, Missouri wandered into single-digit degree weather before her mother was awake. She was found early in the morning outside without shoes or socks. The mother told reporters that her daughter has left the house unattended several times before because she was able to get through the guard bar on the door meant to stop her from leaving the home Inn alone.

In January of this year, Kyle Hoffmaier left his parents' home in Kips Bay, Manhattan after fighting with his parents. The New York Post reported that "small army - including active and retired firefighters, members of the Guardian Angels, friends and family" searched for Kyle. He was found in good health 5 days later in Forest Hills, Queens and reunited with his family.

The many instances of autistic and developmentally disabled children running, and the statistics that show how common these occurrences are illustrates the need for this type of electronic monitoring. This would help to prevent many terrible instances and would enable families to find these children in the case that they do run away or wander off.

Legislative history

2015: S.3288 - Referred to Health 2014: S.7491 - Referred to Health

Fiscal implications

None

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it shall have become a law.