Missing with Autism: Blake Pennington (Cushing, OK)

****UPDATE****

The missing Cushing boy's body has been found in a pond just after 3 p.m. The Memorial Park Pond is in the middle of the park across from the 4-year-old boy's home.

Cushing Police Search For Missing Autistic Toddler - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

CUSHING, Oklahoma -- Police are searching for an autistic, four-year-old boy who went missing Tuesday morning in Cushing.

Blake Pennington was last seen around 10:15 a.m. in the 300 block of S. Little. His family says Blake is autistic, and cannot speak.

He was last seen wearing blue pants with a green stripe on the side, and he is not wearing a shirt or shoes.

Police are asking Cushing residents to check their yards, sheds and any place a child might play or hide.

News On 6 reporter Lacie Lowry said police are focusing their search efforts around a nearby pond.

Anyone who knows where Blake might be should call Cushing police at 918-225-1212.

Police have not issued an Amber Alert for the child.

News On 6 reporter Lacie Lowry will have more on this story on the News On 6 at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Endangered Persons Advisory

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Law enforcement officials statewide in Iowa will help spread the word about “endangered persons” who go missing.

The announcement Tuesday about a new Endangered Persons Advisory came via a news conferences in Des Moines, Council Bluffs and Cedar Rapids. And organizers say they’re taking a page from the well known Amber Alert program.

In an Amber Alert, law enforcement determines a child was abducted and is in serious danger. That determination can trigger the use of electronic highway signs, notices to the media and even text alerts to cell phones.

The Endangered Persons Advisory is targeted at seniors with medical conditions like dementia or Alzheimer’s who could be in physical danger if they wanted away from caretakers. Officials say it might also apply to children with certain conditions—such as Autism.

More

Missouri bill would expand the Amber Alert Criteria

It appears that a proposed change to Missouri law would allow missing children with autism, who were not abducted to be included in the state's Amber Alert system.

HB 1521 -- Amber Alert and Silver Alert System

This bill expands the Amber Alert System to include missing
endangered adults, specifies the criteria for being considered a
missing endangered adult, and changes its name to the Amber Alert
and Silver Alert System.

A wanderer with autism would meet the criteria for an "endangered person" per the verbiage of the bill.

"Endangered person", an individual who:

• (a) Does not meet the criteria for an Amber alert; and
  
• (b) Is missing under unexplained, involuntary, or suspicious circumstances; and
• (c) Is believed to be in danger because of age, guardianship, health, mental or physical disability, environment or weather conditions; or
• (d) Is in the company of a potentially dangerous person or some other factor exists that may put the person in peril.

Include Autistic children for automatic amber alerts(or create a security alert for missing Autistic individuals) when missing!

Petition the government of Canada to include children with autism in Amber Alerts HERE.

To: Canadian Federal Government

This is a petition from individuals of the Facebook group "Include Autistic children for automatic amber alerts when missing!",who feel those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder should be automaticly added to Amber Alerts or If the Canadian Government could create a security alert for Autistic individuals especially children who go missing.With Autism Spectrum Disorder the hormone called dopamine(Dopamine is a chemical messenger (neurotransmitter) that is not very common in the brain. Scarcely more than 0.3% of the neurons in the brain produce dopamine. Nevertheless, these neurons play an essential role in many of our behaviours that should be outputed from the frontal lobe is not.)This hormone acts as a monitor for our behaviour and so since ASD individuals lack the hormone dopamine they have no concept of dangerous behaviour,dangerous people or dangerous situations .Some ASD children are in the 30 percentile who lack social boundries and will hug anyone affectionately ,and go with any stranger which is dangerous and a scary thought for parents who try to protect them.Because ASD is a neurological disorder and also deals with sensory overloads and other sensory issues they can't always wear tracking devices because it is restrictive or uncomfortable to some ASD people.We need to speak for our ASD children since most are non-verbal and cannot advocate for themselves. A petition group "Include Autistic children for automatic amber alerts when missing!",was set up on Facebook and we have managed to rally over 2000 members .
We the undersigned agree with the above statement.