escape artist | Autism PDD
Shabear,
I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this. There have been posts here before about children escaping and running into danger. None of which resulted in a situation like your in i don't believe. First I would contact a Lawyer. If you can't afford one then at least call.... a lot of them will give you a free consult. Every state is different when it comes to family law. Also your state may have resources for legal aid for people that are in abused situations like you described your husband to be. You can ask the lawyer you contact during the consult for advise on that too. I would also take pictures of your whole house and all your safety measures to prove in court that you HAVE made efforts to protect your children. Also this running and escaping can be a common thing with the spectrum so if you can find any documentation on line about it then I would print it out and take that with me to court also. The iron bars are a good idea...if possible I would look into getting those as soon as possible before the court date and taking pictures of them too. Again I am so sorry that you are going through this. I'm sorry that I couldn't help any more. Please keep us posted.
Karrie
i was all excited to reply to this post because my daughter is a well-known escape artist. she has been able to get through anything - except windows. :(
your situation is very unfortunate. i am going to ask around to see if anybody knows a possible solution to the window problem.
have you thought about putting wrought-iron bars on your windows? i think thats what they're called. not very pretty to look at, but it might work.
Hello,
My name is Sherry and I just registered on this site hoping for some help. I am a single mom off three children, my youngest matthew is 6 and was diagnosed over three years ago with autism. He is non verbal and definatly has no fears.
I just left my husband 4 months ago due to emotional and verbal abuse. My children came with me when I left. Because of the new house and the confusion Matthew has become a escape artist.
I have put triple locks on all the doors, double locks on all the windows. I have installed an alarm on my doors and even with this he was able to get out last month after his sister deactavated the alarm to go out to play. When he got out, he went to the canal and almost drown. The police called dcf and they came out and saw all the protective measures I was taking and it was dropped. (so I thought) Because of the near drowning I got my community to help me with donations to saftify my home even more. I got a donation to Lowes and bought all new blinds and lattice to enclose my porch.
While installing one of the blinds earlier this week (because it took so long for the donations to come through) Matthew pushed the glass out of the bedroom window where he was playing. This time we found him right away but of coarse the police had to call back dcf. Dcf just took my kids away and gave custody to their father, they did not even notify me.
I need help with a couple things, if any one has any legal advise that would be great. Also I am trying to show the court that I am working to saftify my home and now I need ideas on how to secure the windows. If anyone can help.....please. My kids are my world, I cant loose them
I don't have any advice or anything but I wanted to reply and tell you that my thoughts and prayers are with you .I would also suggest the bars for the windows and maybe a security system for the whole house that will sound an alarm every time a window or door is opened. It may be a pain but it would alert you to go check each time you heard it where your child is. Have you also considered a tall fence for around the years with an alarm system? What about one of the childrens alarm systems that go on the child and I believe they beep when the child gets too far away? Below are some links you may want to check out
Home Door / Window Alarms
http://store.yahoo.com/nextpowerusa/fial8wiwidoa.html
http://www.spymaster.com/home.door.protection.html
http://www.globalsources.com/manufacturers/Door-Alarm.html
Kid Alarms
http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/childsafety.html
http://www.safetydefenseproducts.com/childguard.htm
http://www.itave.com/smart_guard.html
http://www.hardwares.globalsources.com/si/6007000636832/yste ch.co
With the bars around the windows, I suggest checking your local housing ordinances. I know here they are violation of the fire code, unless they are collapsable.
Tammy
SO sorry to hear about your situation. My 8 yr. old escapes too !!!I know they have locks for windows you could also nail them shut that way in case of a fire you can still break the window to get out quick. I would demand my children back i would go to the dcf and get them to give me copies of what notes they took when they came out they should of written about him being autistic and what you were doing to prevent him from escaping.I would still check with your local ordinances first. Here if you nail the window shut, it is not considered an egress window anymore, or a fire escape. Plus depends on the glass it is made of. Double pane windows are harder to break than single pane. Having lived thru two fires, it is not as easy as you think to break the glass once a fire is going. The smoke will get you first. And you have seconds to get out.
Tammy
I am so sorry to hear this it is awful. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to retrieve my son out of the ditch by the road, the end of the driveway, my car (he loves to pretend he is driving) we had to put locks up high on our doors and he would still find a chair and unlock them. I also have three other children so you can imagine they go outside and leave doors open,unlocked and he would escape. I also had cps called too but belive it or not it wasn't because he was outside alone it was because he was NAKED(hated to wear clothes). I was lucky I guess because when I explained the situation the social worker who came to do the investigation stressed the fact that I needed more support and help for my son. But I also did not have another parent who wanted custody. I cannot belive that you went through all of the trouble raising money and getting help(which by the way is a wonderful idea) and they still opted to remove your children. This just baffles me. Do they not know by removing him from you and his home again they will be doing harm to him?? I am praying for you and hope you get this all straightened out.
Nita
hello Sherry, nice to talk to you, i also have only just joined, today in fact !!I have a boy who is 5 yrs old and we have to put locks on the doors etc as he would be gone !
it is stressful and it does make you feel like you are living in a prison, and its hard for my other child who is 7yrs having to have locks on everything too.
just wanted to say that i know how you feel and you are not alone.
look forward to chatting with you
take care
Thank you for all your advise, I have contacted the local fire dept. to find out what is up to code along protecting him not to get out. My son just recieved the ION bracelet to help protect him from getting to far away from the local police dept.. I am trying everything I can possiblly think of, unfortanatlly there is nothing I can do to get my kids back right now. I am going crazy without my kids. If anyone has any more thoughts or advise please I am looking for anything right now. I need to get my kids back.
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