A Calgary mother of a seven-year-old boy with autism is starting a campaign to make changes to Alberta’s emergency alert system after the disappearance of another boy with autism almost a week ago.
Jennifer Ball says missing vulnerable children should trigger a faster public notification, even when there’s no evidence they have been abducted.
She has started a petition for an alert similar to an Amber Alert for missing neurodivergent children.
Ball says she would call it an indigo alert, since the deep purple colour is associated with autism awareness.
An Amber Alert for 11-year-old Parker wasn’t issued until two days after he went missing from his dayhome in Calgary last week.
Global News
Last Thursday, 11-year-old Parker was reported missing from his daycare home in Calgary, prompting an extensive search for the boy who has autism and is non-verbal.
An Amber Alert was issued about two days later, after the Alberta government granted an exemption due to circumstances of the case.
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Amanda Pick, CEO the Missing Children Society of Canada, says the current Amber Alert system has a deliberately narrow purpose.
She says she understands why families want broader alerts, but officials must also consider alert fatigue if they become too common.
Pick points to the Child Search Network, a police-operated system that sends geographically targeted text alerts in high-risk missing child cases that don’t meet Amber Alert criteria.
An 11-year-old Calgary boy, who is neurodivergent and non-verbal, has been the subject of an intense search by police, search and rescue experts and ordinary citizens, since he went missing from his dayhome on July 16.
Global News
In an emailed response to questions from Global News asking about the process for issuing Amber Alerts, an Alberta government spokesperson said “In the coming months, we will be reviewing the alert system to identify best practices used across the country and assess whether any improvements can be made, ensuring Albertans have the most effective tools possible to help bring missing children and vulnerable people home.”
With files from Global News.
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