‘Ian Alert’ could help missing children with special needs

LINCOLN COUNTY, Ky. (WKYT) - A Kentucky grandmother is asking lawmakers to help families of children with special needs.

Rhonda O’Brien is helping to spearhead ‘Ian’s Alert’, named after her grandson Ian Sousis.

“If this fight saves one single life, that one single life is important,” she said. “One life was important to me.”

Ian was diagnosed with autism at age three and had a known habit of eloping.

Elopement is defined as someone with special needs wandering away from a safe area or person, possibly putting themselves at risk of harm.

In June of 2022, Ian escaped a children’s home in Northern Kentucky.

He was caught running through a neighborhood on surveillance camera.

Boaters, later found him unresponsive in the Ohio River.

Authorities ruled his death an accidental drowning.

“You never realize how painful,” she said. “I mean it’s almost two years and it’s painful.”

House Bill 682 was introduced by Sen. Cathy Massaroni (R) of Nelson.

“We have a system in place that is proven to help locate vulnerable individuals, let’s use its framework to communicate when a child with autism is missing or lost,” Massaroni said. “I’m very hopeful that we’ll honor Ian’s life by saving others.”

It would create a new section of state statute and require Kentucky State Police to provide public notification through the use of media providers and highway signs when a child with special needs is missing or may be in physical danger.

“Ian’s life has to mean something,” said O’Brien. “An alert system would really be a big thing.”

O’Brien started an online petition. As of Tuesday, it had garnered nearly 2,000 signatures.

“I think it could save lives,” she said. ”I really do. I really think that an alert like this because let me tell you something, Ian went missing at 9:30 and the alert went out at 1:15. Ian was already dead by then.”

The National Autism Association estimates in 2009, 2010, and 2011, accidental drowning accounted for 91% total U.S. deaths reported in children with an ASD ages 14 and younger after wandering or elopement.