The Alberta government will review its Amber Alert system and the policies of a Calgary day home after the death of an 11-year-old boy with autism.
The province says the review will assess the criteria that needs to be met for an alert to be issued and will include the perspectives of police, disability advocates and other community organizations.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis says the death of Parker Wells was heartbreaking and that the government wants to learn from what happened.
Parker’s disappearance from a northern Calgary day home prompted a massive two-week search that saw hundreds of police officers and civilians scour city blocks and play Disney music to try to find him.
Police had said the boy’s body was found July 29 deep inside an underground pipe system below the Deerfoot Trail freeway in the city’s north end.
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While Amber Alerts are mainly reserved for cases when police believe a child has been abducted and is in serious danger, the province granted an exception in Parker’s case due to the specific circumstances.
But the alert didn’t come until two days after Parker was last seen.
“By listening to law enforcement, disability advocates and community partners, we can better understand how emergency alerts are working today and what options should be considered for the future,” Ellis said in a news release on Monday.
Calgary police have said they will also review its response to the case.
Is there anything that actually gets done correctly these days?
Hello, I’m writing to request a correction to your recent article regarding Parker. The article states that he went missing from a day home. However, based on publicly available information, he went missing from a group home, not a licensed child care day home. A group home and a licensed child care day home are entirely different services. They are governed by different legislation, regulatory bodies, and serve different populations. Labeling a group home as a day home is factually incorrect, creates unnecessary public confusion, and unfairly misrepresents Alberta’s licensed child care sector. I respectfully ask that you review the facts and update the article to accurately identify the type of care setting involved. Thank you for your attention to this matter.