JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 After two children with autism drowned in Jacksonville retention ponds this month alone, a state lawmaker is drawing attention to legislation that aims to help monitor children who may have communication difficulties and be at risk of wandering.<\/p>\n
Sponsored by State Rep. Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville), the Florida program Project Leo<\/a>, which provides free personal search-and-rescue devices to people at risk of wandering, is back in state law and funded under legislation that went into effect July 1.<\/p>\n The project, which was reenacted this summer after first becoming law in 2016 and later expiring, provides free personal search-and-rescue devices to people at risk of wandering, including children with autism. <\/p>\n The small, wearable trackers \u2014 typically worn on the wrist or ankle \u2014 use radio-frequency signals to help locate a missing person.<\/p>\n In early August, a 7-year-old boy wandered from his Northside home<\/a> and was later found in a neighborhood pond. On Aug. 24, a 3-year-old girl was reported missing<\/a> from a Northside townhome complex and was found in a nearby pond. Both children had wandered from home.<\/p>\n Duggan says The Centers for Autism and Related Disabilities, known as CARD, will determine who\u2019s eligible for the device, but JSO will be responsible for distributing the device to the selected families. <\/p>\n \u201cThat way the telemetry from the device goes to JSO, and they can track the child,\u201d Duggan said.<\/p>\n The program is named after Leo Walker, a boy with autism who wandered from his home in 2014 and drowned.<\/p>\n