A.M.A.R.I 💚🧸🪽

Good Afternoon!

My name is Marisa Gonzales, I am from a small town in Otero County.

Saturday we were met with an unfortunate situation. A 3 year old child by the name of Amari Galan, with special needs Autism managed to escape from his home in the early hours of the morning, and it went into a 2 day search which ended in tragedy. He fell into the canal, and was found around 5pm yesterday. Of course his family is in shambles. I write to you today in hopes of trying to conduct an alert system in his name so this tragedy isn’t in vain. We have noticed that there are amber alerts, and code Adam’s, but none for special needs children. 

Members of our community have came up with an acronym in honor of his name AMARI

Autistic Medical Alert Response Initiative

For all like Amari, children and adults alike.

49% of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have attempted to elope at least once after age 4. Of those who went missing, 24% were in danger of drowning, and 65% were in danger of traffic injury. Elopement risk is associated with autism severity, increasing, on average, 9% for every 10-point increase in Social Responsiveness Scale T score.

As a member of this community, and 1 of millions of proud autism parents, I really hope to get this story heard, and we as a community wish to get this going if possible! 

I encourage you to sign this petition, and get this passed! 

Please keep his loved ones in your continued thoughts & prayers 🙏🏽💚🧸🪽

Sincerely,

Marisa Gonzales