My oldest son was diagnosed with Autism at around 3 years old. The thought of any child getting lost is disheartening, but having a child who can't communicate magnifies those worries 100,000,000,000 times more. My biggest fear is him getting lost, and statistically speaking, its not an unfounded worry.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there were 424,066 reports of children missing in 2018. Almost half a million children in 2018 alone (!!!).. Between 2007 and 2017, 952 children reported missing had autism, and 43 children were unfortunately recovered deceased.
My heart breaks for those families, and it makes you wonder, what can we as parents do? I've searched for GPS devices, name tags, I've even gone as far as researching micro-chip tracking (its crazy to me that we have a way to track pets, but ZERO ways to immediately track people who are mentally disabled...) I've been desperate to find something to keep my child located at all times.
While I don't personally have all of the answers, (and we are still navigating our life with Autism in this big world.) I'm happy that a product like this exists so that you have a back up plan in case something does happen.
Scent Safe is a product that was created by a police officer to "help you locate your loved one". The idea is to get the scent of your loved one, & store it safely for up to a year in case of an emergency. When people go missing, they sometimes utilize a dog to smell the scent of a person to help track them down. It is extremely important for the scent of the loved one to be uncontaminated, so that the canines know exactly who they are searching for.
Per their website:
Dr. Webb is a decorated Captain of the police force and an accomplished handler of bloodhounds. She knows how devoted handlers are to their dogs and vice-versa because she has trained the best of them. Dr. Webb also knows that these handler/dog teams are here to serve people in need. They have devoted themselves to the rigorous training required to develop the tools to achieve success in search and rescue operations. These handlers, officers and military personnel often put themselves at risk, along with their dogs, in the line of duty. She developed the Scent Safe to give these brave teams the best advantage they can have when tracking a lost loved one, a pristine, uncontaminated scent item.
I opened up our carefully wrapped Find'em Scent Safe Box:
Here is what their instructions list:
I noticed that per their instructions, it said something to the effect of "scents collected after rising body temperature/ perspiration is optimal". I waited until after my son was done with his heavy work exercises on his trampoline to collect his scent.
The instructions also say that the gauze has to be held for 5 minutes. To pass the time, I gave him the stuffed puppy as we watched puppy videos on his ipad, we were done in a pinch. It is extremely important you read the instructions before use so as not to contaminate the product.
In our case, we do have a child with special needs, but I do see how this could be useful for any family member in your home. I hope that we never have to use this, but I'm grateful that we do have a product in case of an emergency. I highly recommend getting a product such as this, as another added layer of protection in your home.
For more information:
https://findemscentsafe.com/
For more information:
https://findemscentsafe.com/
Thank you Find'em Scent safe for sending me a product for review. I commend you for looking for new ways to protect those that do not have a voice.
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