GREENFIELD — Officials from law enforcement agencies say they plan to speak with authorities at the Autism Center for Enrichment after they learned a child got out of the facility and was alone for several minutes before being found at a fast food restaurant across a busy four-lane street.
The ACE facility, where autistic children are cared for and educated, has locked doors, but officials said some of the doors were easy for children to open. The doors at the facility at 190 W. Green Meadows Drive have since been made more secure following the incident late last week, officials at the facility said.
The 8-year-old child who left the building has the understanding of a 2-year-old, the child’s father said. The child was able to leave the facility and cross four lanes of traffic during rush hour before being found about 100 yards from the facility at the McDonalds, located at 1490 N. State St., on the afternoon of June 21.
The child, who was under supervision, the father said, took off in an instant, and when officials realized it, they immediately began canvasing the area. After several minutes, officials from the facility were able to locate the child at the fast food restaurant.
The Autism Center for Enrichment is an educational facility for children to assist students with challenges, and focuses on their strengths via applied behavior analysis, according to its website, autismenrichment.com.
Kelsey Pumel, president and chief executive officer for ACE, said she could not discuss individual child issues with anyone other than the parents. The safety of children in their care while at the facility is their number one priority, Pumel said.
The child who left the facility has tendencies to wander and is unable to verbally communicate, his father said. It’s why the child wears a tracking unit which can be viewed by officials with the Morristown Police Department, because the child lives in Morristown. The system can track the child within less than a mile of the child’s location, but the police department was not notified about the incident until well after the child had been found.
Greenfield Police Department, who patrol the area where the facility is located, said they did not receive any kind of notification from the ACE staff that a child was missing. The department said it should have been called.
“We would like to be notified when something like that happens,” Matt Holland, GPD deputy chief, said.
Holland and officials from the MPD were expected to speak with officials from the facility this week to determine what happened and how the child got out, how long the child was missing, and how the child was able to cross such a busy street without getting hurt, Holland said. The matter is not a criminal investigation, however.
“I don’t think there was anything criminal here at all,” Holland said.
The situation is a teachable opportunity for the staff and owners of the facility, as well as the community who need to know there is an autism facility on the road and to be extra cautious when driving by, Holland said.
“Sometimes things happen, but we’re at the beginning stages of finding out what happened here,” Holland said. “This could be a good educational issue for everyone.”
The Autism center moved to its new facility on Green Meadows Drive in early spring, said Michelle Sears, chief operations officer. An estimated 20 children are being cared for this summer on a one-to-one, or depending on the spectrum of autism, a one-to-three adult-child ratio.
Since the incident, the owners have had workers out to look into and assess the safety locks on all doors, officials with the facility said.
While the building does have secure locks and push-button equipment to let people enter and exit the facility, some of the exterior doors, while equipped with alarms, did open immediately when pushed, Sears said.
Since the incident late last week, officials at the facility made plans to install delay doors, Sears said. When pushed, delay doors set off an alarm but do not immediately open, keeping children who are prone to wander from getting outside.
The ACE facility has board certified, masters and doctoral-level staff members, according to the company website.
The enrichment program in Hancock County is one of many throughout the state. Marion, Johnson, Hendricks, and Hamilton counties are also listed as areas with ACE owned facilities, the website said.
