Operation Save the Lost looks to keep kids safe, at home

A local family is looking to change the heartbreaking headlines of lost children with special needs ending in tragedy into stories of hope and quick rescues.

Delphos residents Nick and Katie Goergens have started Operation Save the Lost in response to high numbers of children on the autism spectrum who wander away from home and are missing for hours or even days. Nick was involved in two searches for missing autistic children this year alone.

“Unfortunately, it’s often too late to save them by the time they’re found,” said Katie.

The first search was for 5-year-old Isaac Schroeder from Fort Jennings. Schroeder was non-verbal, meaning he was unable to communicate, and had wandered away from his home on May 27. He was found deceased in the Auglaize River, less than a mile from home, on May 28. The second search was for 4-year-old Quentin Elcessor from Kenton. The boy went missing on Oct. 22 and his body was found in the Scioto River, about 2 miles from where he was last seen, on Oct. 26.

“We decided in November, after the search in Kenton that there really needed to be something in place as a tracking method or something that alerts parents more in-depth than a door or window alarm,” Katie said.

And the Goergens have first-hand experience with the curiosity and creativity of autistic children as their 2-year-old daughter Aubrey is autistic and has a love of the outdoors.

“If she’s outside, she has no fears and she will be gone,” Katie said. “We just wanted to make sure we’re doing everything we could for her as well as other families too.”

A part of that desire to do everything they can, the Goergens purchased a Jiobit tracking system for their daughter that updates them in real time to her exact location. After experiencing the peace of mind that comes with knowing where Aubrey is and seeing its use in the event she would ever go missing, the couple wants to spread that peace of mind to other families with children with autism spectrum disorder.

Statistics from a survey by the National Autism Foundation suggest that nearly a third of autism-related wandering cases resulted in death or serious enough injury to require medical attention. The Delphos-based family wants to do their part to reduce that number.

Katie added that while people without children on the autism spectrum may not realize it, these children can be very quick and will figure out how to get out if they want to.

“It’s scary and it can happen so fast,” she said. “It’s not about being an irresponsible parent or not watching your kids, it’s about the fact that anything can happen and it can happen so fast.”

According to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics, nearly half of all children with autism spectrum disorder wander off from safe supervision at some point in their childhood or adolescence.

Goergen noted that children who are non-verbal — such as her daughter — are even more at risk because of their lack of ability to speak, adding that even if the child were to come across someone who could help them, they would have a hard time communicating that they are lost.

“Our program provides Jiobit trackers and a two-year subscrip

tion free of charge,” Katie explained. “It’s really important to us and I don’t think a lot of people know this option is out there. If they do know, they may not be able to afford it.”

She further explained that families of special needs children already have plenty to worry about between therapy sessions, doctor visits and general day-to- day life challenges so she wants to provide one less thing to have to think about.

“This would just be one extra piece of safety that we can offer them,” she said.

Partnering with the Autism Life Center in Allen County, Goergen is developing plans for a distribution day as soon as they can figure out how to do one safely in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has a goal of distributing 20 Jiobit devices at the first event — tentatively planned for late January — and added that there is an application process but instead of focusing on income, the process would be more focused on risk assessment.

Beyond that, she said it would be on a first-come, first-served basis.

“The grading scale would give a little higher priority to families that live close to a lake, reservoir, river or highway than those who, say, live in the country and are surrounded by fields,” she explained.

But before Operation Save the

Lost can distribute the systems, they need additional funding to cover the cost of a tracker and the subscription. Goergen said the tracker and a two-year subscription costs about $337 per family. Despite the high price tag, Goergen said the family receiving the device will not pay for anything and she will even meet with the family to help them set everything up.

“It’s not just handing them their Jiobit and saying ‘ here you go, now you’re on your own,’” she said. “We can even — if the family wants to — add their local first responders to their care team and that way if their kid goes missing, all the first responders have to do is pull up the app on the tablet in their firetruck or police car and they would have access to track the child too. It can take the search time down from hours or days to minutes because instead of going to the home and gathering information before starting the search, they can go directly to where the Jiobit is telling them.

“It could be, potentially, life- saving.”

More information on Operation Save the Lost can be found by searching on Facebook or emailing operationsavethelost@ gmail.com.

Donations of any size can be made at Superior Federal Credit Union branches under Operation Save The Lost or mailed to 462 Dewey Street, Delphos, OH 45833.