MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Brittany Taylor remembers how scared she was last year when her son Jaxson got out of the house.
At the time, then 4-year-old Jaxson—who has autism spectrum disorder—couldn’t say his name.
“He wanted to go and ride his bike … He loves to ride his bike,” Brittany said. “So, I went to go get my shoes, and in the time that I went to go get my shoes, he managed to get outside … He got on his bike, and off he went.”
When she returned with her shoes on and didn’t find him, Brittany called out and searched for Jaxson before she quickly realized he was not inside.
Frantically, she went outside where her husband was mowing the lawn and they began to search for him. A neighbor who saw their panic was able to point out the direction the boy had gone.
“And there he was on his bike, right down the street,” Brittany said.
Many children with autism can’t speak. Others, like Jaxson, are limited in what they can say.
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges.
One in 36 eight-year-old children has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to new data released Friday in the Center for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The data came from 11 communities in the U.S. that are part of the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.
For Brittany, Jaxson’s eloping was a wake-up call. Eloping is the term used to describe when someone with autism runs or wanders away from their parents or caregiver. It's common in children with autism because they often lack a sense of danger or fear.
The Parrish wife and mother of two learned of a program called Take Me Home, which helps get children and adults with disabilities home safely if they go missing. It was created and first implemented by the Pensacola Police Department.
But when Brittany called the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, she was told they didn’t have any such programs and was put in touch with Lt. Mark Morie, who began to research the program.
“She was really interested in trying to work with us at the sheriff's office,” Morie said. “A lot of sheriff’s offices throughout the nation do some form of program like the Take Me Home project.”
Thanks to Taylor’s help, the Manatee County Sherriff’s Office recently launched its Take Me Home project.
The program works by voluntarily collecting personal information from parents or caregivers, which feeds into a database. That information includes a photo and emergency contact, as well as likes and triggers, such as if the person does not like to be touched.
When someone registers, Morie then fills out an additional form to feed the information to the sheriff’s office computer-assisted dispatch, known as CAD, system.
“So, if a patrol guy [...] gets a call, he sees somebody that's nonverbal, he can select in our database that Take Me Home project, and it'll pull up all the pictures of the people that are part of the program," Morie said.
The deputy can then scroll through and identify the child or adult if they are a registered participant.
The database is also set up to alert dispatch when deputies are being sent to the home of a participant. This allows them to have as much information as possible about what they may expect.
“This person isn't someone that's just trying to fight,” Morie explained. “This person is somebody that you may need to take a little bit extra steps to deal with them differently, you know, understand where they're coming from.”
Currently, the program only has two registered participants but Brittany and Morie are both hoping it will grow and spread awareness to those in the community.
“To me, it's having that peace of mind, that, God forbid he does ever get away from us, that there's help,” Brittany said. “Knowing that it could help so many other people … it's rewarding.”
To register someone in the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Take Me Home program, parents or caregivers can fill out the form online or stop by the sheriff’s office for assistance.
