Just as there is the Amber Alert for abducted children, should there be an “Autism Alert” when an autistic child is missing? The parents of Kaitlyn Bacile—-who, in September, was found drowned in a canal near her home —-think so, as reported in today’s WSVN (Florida):

While it’s too late for Kaitlyn, her parents hope some good can come from their tragedy.

Jay Bacile: “We want Kaitlyn’s life not to go in vain, at the very minimum we want to raise awareness. We just want her memory to live on and do good because that’s what Kaitlyn was, was pure goodness.

WSVN notes that current programs designed to report that autistic children are missing are “not being used consistently”:

The “Take Me Home” program supplies police with pictures and information of at-risk kids.

But of the 271 law enforcement agencies in Florida, only 41 use it. “A Child is Missing” is a national emergency system which can put out 1000 alert calls in one minute to a neighborhood where a child goes missing.

Claudia Corrigan, ACIM. “It’s important to get these calls out there immediately, and we can do it. You have a small window of time it’s a two to three hour and even then, if there’s water nearby it’s very very tough.”

The service is free to police, but they don’t always use it. Finally, only 37 police departments in Florida have picked up a program called project lifesaver.

Wristbands allow rescuers to track the person wearing it, but it puts the burden on parents to pay for a $300 bracelet. And most autistic children have sensory issues and won’t wear them.

Tina Brea: “This is a child that cannot communicate, that cannot understand the simple commands that others their age can. So any attention that can be brought to this the better.”

What would be the best way to spread the word, as quickly as possible, that a child is missing?

5-year-old Carlee Bennett of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, apparently drowned in her bathtub on Saturday evening, according to the Fond du Lac Reporter. Carlee had severe autism and was found lying face-down in the bathtub. Her grandmother, a retired nurse, was babysitting her and her two brothers and immediately started administering CPR.

Emergency personnel took Carlee to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee where doctors were able to restart her heart, Bennett said. But Carlee, who had been without oxygen for as long as 30 minutes, had severe organ damage and likely severe brain damage.

“The way we’ll always remember her is as a loving, happy, giggling little girl,” Bennett said. “Everything to her was funny. She was always smiling, always happy.”

Carlee had a history of seizures but hadn’t had one in a few years, he said. She also had no bump on her head or other marks to suggest she had fallen or hit her head.

Carlee usually bathed in about three inches of water with a few toys, her father said. She had been left alone in the tub in the past for short periods without incident.

There was a similar case here in New Jersey a few years ago in which a little girl around Carlee’s age drowned in her bathtub. Some of my son’s therapists knew this little girl and no one knew what to say.