More help coming for those with Autism

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer has announced that the just unveiled omnibus spending bill includes “Kevin & Avonte’s Law” –  a bill that will create and fund a program to provide voluntary tracking devices and expand support services for families who care for someone with autism, dementia, or other special needs, where “bolting,” “elopement,” or “wandering”  from parents or caregivers can happen.  In November, Schumer visited Mary Cariola Children’s Center in Rochester to join alongside Rochester Autism advocates and local parents and children with autism to push for passage of this bill following the disappearance of Starrlita R. Smith, a Livingston County woman with special needs who disappeared for several days from her parent’s care. As a result of the tireless efforts of local law enforcement, Ms. Smith was found and provided with a locator device through the Livingston County Sheriffs Department.  Earlier this month, Schumer again joined with Rochester Autism advocates to double down on his push to pass this legislation following the tragic disappearance of Trevyan Rowe in Rochester. Schumer first introduced the bill in response to a fatal incident that occurred in 2014, when Avonte Oquendo, a non-verbal boy with autism, bolted from his Long Island City school. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is the current lead Democratic sponsor of the bill. Schumer said that preventing wandering- related tragedies is near and dear to his heart and passage of this bill will help Avonte’s memory live on, while helping to prevent any more children with autism from going missing. Now that the legislation was included in the omnibus spending bill, it must be signed into law by the President.

Just this month the tragic disappearance of Trevyan Rowe, Rochester teen with Autism who wandered away from school proves how critical Kevin and Avonte’s Law is.

“Making voluntary tracking devices available to vulnerable children with autism or adults with Alzheimer’s who are at risk of wandering will help put countless families at ease,” said Senator Schumer. "This month’s heartbreaking disappearance of Trevyan Rowe proves how critical Kevin & Avonte’s law is.  Across Western New York we have seen time and time again cases of children and adults with developmental disabilities wonder away from home, many times tragically. After Avonte Oquendo ran away from his school and went missing, I learned just how prevalent wandering is among children with autism and other developmental disorders. Since Avonte’s tragic death, I’ve pushed Congress to pass “Kevin & Avonte’s Law,” a bill that will create and fund a program to provide voluntary GPS  tracking devices to children or adults with developmental disorders, like Autism Spectrum Disorder. I joined Rochester Autism advocates and families at the Mary Cariola center to push for this vital law,  and I am proud to  have spent years speaking up for those who cannot and to have authored this important bill, which will help Avonte Oquendo and Trevyan’s memories live on, while helping to prevent other children and teens with autism from going missing. I want to thank Senator Klobuchar for all of her hard work on getting this bill into the omnibus spending bill as well.”

This legislation reauthorizes and expands an existing program designed to assist in locating Alzheimer's disease and dementia patients, known as the Missing Alzheimer's Disease Patient Alert Program, to include children with developmental disabilities, such as autism, and renames it the Missing Americans Alert Program.