Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for a change to Ontario’s amber alert system after an 11-year-old Ontario boy was found dead in a river on Monday.
The boy’s body was discovered in the Scugog River near Lindsay, Ontario, after he had left home about 24 hours earlier. Draven Graham, who was living with autism, left home while his father shaved on Sunday morning. It was the last time they saw him.
Following the devastating series of events, Kat Reid of Hamilton, Ontario, created a petition to create a “Draven Alert” for “autistic and vulnerable children with special needs who have disappeared.”
At the moment, the Amber Alert is an emergency issue specifically dedicated to requesting public assistance when a minor is abducted.
“The issuance of an amber alert is not taken lightly. Specific guidelines must be followed for an amber alert to be distributed,” says the Ontario provincial police website.
These guidelines include law enforcement that believe a child under the age of 18 has been abducted, is in danger, descriptive information is available, and then a brief alert is issued to help locate the child.
But when Graham disappeared, there was no alert for Amber because she was not kidnapped.
However, more than 30,000 people want to change it for future cases like this.
“The more awareness and attention we can bring to this while it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind, the better. Unfortunately, all the hype goes off VERY quickly in these situations, nothing ends up changing, and then the list of tragic endings continues to grow. “Reid wrote in the petition.
“That has to happen,” Ryan Rubenstein of Milton wrote. “If even a life is saved as a result, it’s worth it. Be strong … be crazy … this is a tragedy, but listen too. The more they sign … the higher our Thank you to everyone who signed or shared. “
On its website, police say that if Amber Alerts are overused, it could “decrease the public response when really needed.”
An amber alert has been triggered on this undated file image.
Meanwhile, others are calling for the petition to go a step further to include people over the age of 18. Racehl Laroque of Woodbridge, Ontario, writes, “Please note that autism does not end at age 18 and we make sure that people with autism / vulnerability. Adults and the elderly are also included in this alert.”
The petition is working to reach 35,000 signatures.