Goodlatte Applauds Passage of Bill to Protect Children with Autism & Those with Alzheimer’s from Wandering

Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives today approved Kevin and Avonte’s Law (H.R. 4919) by a vote of 346-66 to help protect children with autism and individuals with Alzheimer’s from wandering. Kevin and Avonte’s Law is named in honor of two boys with autism, Kevin Curtis and Avonte Oquendo, who both wandered away from supervision and tragically drowned. The bill reauthorizes an existing Department of Justice grant program, the “Missing Alzheimer’s Disease Patient Alert Program,” and extends the program to cover children with autism, who may be susceptible to the same type of wandering behavior as those with Alzheimer’s. It is estimated that 60 percent of the 5.3 million individuals with Alzheimer’s, and 49 percent of the 1 in 68 children with autism, have wandered. H.R. 4919 authorizes the Justice Department to make grants to law enforcement agencies, public safety agencies, and nonprofit organizations, to provide proactive, educational, voluntary wandering-prevention programming to families and caretakers of individuals who wander, as well as training to first responders and school personnel in order to recognize and respond to endangered missing individuals and facilitate their rescue and recovery. The bill contains important grant accountability and transparency requirements to ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) praised today’s approval of the bill in the statement below. Chairman Goodlatte: “It’s a family’s worst nightmare when a loved one goes missing, especially if their child has autism or their parent has Alzheimer’s. Children with autism and people with Alzheimer’s are prone to wandering and the results can be devastating if they are not found immediately. “Kevin and Avonte’s Law reauthorizes a critical grant program to help prevent folks with Alzheimer’s from wandering and also extends it to children with autism. Police searches are expensive and this voluntary preventative grant program can help avoid costly searches and also spare the heartache that families and caretakers feel when a loved one goes missing. It’s also important that first responders and teachers are equipped to recognize and respond to missing individuals so that they can be brought home safely. I thank Representative Chris Smith for his tireless work on this pressing issue and call on the Senate to pass his bill.” ###