Howard officials are reaching out to a mother who found her autistic son walking along a major highway after wandering from a camp overseen by the county?s Department of Recreation and Parks.
Kristen Detwiler, of Ellicott City, will be included in Wednesday?s meeting with the department, along with County Executive Ken Ulman and the Howard County Autism Society, to discuss improving staff training and emergency response.
“I don?t want this to happen to another family. We could have had a tragedy,” said Detwiler, who around 3:30 p.m. June 23, found her 7-year-old son, Colin Hays, alone along the ramp from northbound Route 29 leading onto Route 100.
Her son, whom she describes as highly functional and verbal, attended a summer day camp with other elementary school children at Veterans Elementary School in Ellicott City.
A companion aide, who is assigned to one child, was supposed to watch her son, Detwiler said.
The 19-year-old aide has been reassigned, said Gary Arthur, director of the Recreation and Parks Department.
“Oftentimes, these children don?t have a sense that they?re not supposed to leave and don?t know the acceptable boundaries,” said Kim Manning, executive director of the Howard County Autism Society.
Many of the companion aides are teens who need to be trained to better handle children with special needs, Manning said.
The training also will incorporate feedback from parents such as Detwiler, Ulman said.
“I?m really appreciative of her,” Ulman said. “She?s really viewing this, as I am, as an opportunity to make sure this doesn?t happen again.”
Another element of the protocol change will be requiring the immediate notification of the program director and supervisor of any missing child, who would then advise the appropriate emergency response officials, Ulman said.
When day camp workers discovered Colin was missing, they searched the entire school for about 20 minutes, but should have promptly notified police after a shorter search, which is the protocol, Arthur said.
Police said they received word of the missing child at 3:19 p.m., meaning the boy had been gone for about 30 minutes.
