As many of you know, I am the single father of a mentally-challenged, severely autistic, speech-limited adult man. It should be noted that my son has an extensive history of elopement (running away – see also here, here, and here), self-injurious behavior, and occasional aggression. My son has escaped without detection from every school he has attended, including preschool at the age of three, and with the exception of high school when he was retrieved as he was attempting to leave the campus, which was situated on a hill one block from a toll-road where cars travel sometimes in excess of 65 mph.

At age 10, he escaped from our house and made his way up to the same toll-road when some motorists pulled over and managed to detain him until the authorities arrived. About three months later, he escaped from his caregiver’s home and ran across several streets until he was hit by a two-ton truck that nearly killed him. He spent a week in the hospital and a few days in pediatric ICU. He sustained a broken jaw, contusions, and over the next six months fully recovered. He continued to elope as he got older and has been returned to our home several times in the back of county sheriff’s cars. He is not traffic-safe.