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Bill would require schools to notify parents and report elopement incidents after a child's death in Charles County was cited
Summary
Sponsor and family members urged the Ways and Means Committee to require schools to notify parents immediately and to include elopement behavior in IEPs and state reporting after testimony about a child who drowned following repeated elopement incidents.
Delegate Edith Patterson told the House Ways and Means Committee on March 5 that House Bill 12-04 responds to “the tragic death of a 5‑year‑old boy from Charles County,” an incident she said involved repeated elopement from supervised areas and resulted in drowning after the child left school grounds.
Patterson said the bill has three primary requirements: immediate parent or guardian notification when a student attempts or succeeds in eloping from a supervised area or school campus; a state reporting system maintained by the Maryland State Department of Education to collect elopement incidents and hold schools accountable; and annual review and inclusion of elopement behavior in students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs).
Family members of children who eloped described the risk as immediate and life‑threatening. Britney Bledsoe, who identified herself as the mother of a child who drowned, told the committee, “My son Ace was only 3 years old, full of life, love, and innocence… He was nonverbal and diagnosed with autism. … In that moment, my world shattered.” Bledsoe said elopement was a recurring and predictable risk for her son and described a pattern she said schools had not adequately communicated.
Shari Bailey, a parent and nonprofit founder, said nearly half of individuals with autism elope at some point. “Forty‑nine percent of individuals with autism tend to elope,” she told the committee, and noted that families often lack awareness that elopement is a clinical concern that requires plans and notification procedures.
Advocates, including Arc Maryland, supported the bill in testimony, saying it would ensure timely notification and allow families to respond promptly when a child goes missing. Andy Culp, representing Arc Maryland, described instances in which parents only discovered elopement via a GPS tracker and said the lack of school notification was “a really significant issue.”
Patterson said the bill would make elopement a reportable event that must be addressed annually in an IEP/BIP so individualized preventative strategies are part of planning. She said the bill had incorporated amendments suggested by autism coalition advocates and asked the committee for a favorable report.
No vote was recorded at the hearing. Committee members expressed condolences to the families and discussed technical details of reporting timelines and data collection.
