A bipartisan group of Maryland lawmakers are introducing a bundle of five bills to better locate people with disabilities who elope from their homes.

The LEAD Act focuses on people throughout their lifetimes that may be at risk for elopement, ranging from children with autism to adults with disabilities to older adults living with dementia.

Elopement is a serious concern for people caring for people with those diseases. According to the National Institutes of Health about half of children with autism engage in elopement behavior and about 1% to 2% of nursing home residents elope each year.

Many of those incidents can cause harm to death.

The LEAD Act focuses on a holistic approach to helping find elopers and prevent them from wandering off.

“The five bills are really around improving access,” said Shari Baily, the founder and CEO of Laila’s Gift, a nonprofit focused on children with disabilities. “It provides a web page for Marylanders, particularly those that are caregiving across the lifespan, to understand safety planning and resources available to them to help with their loved ones who are at risk of elopement.”

The bills also train first responders in how to respond to people with disabilities and requires insurers to pay for elopement response devices.

“The LEAD Act is critical to strengthening support systems for families and improving public safety across our State. House Bill 1434 helps caregivers, who provide essential and often unseen care, have a clear and centralized online resource, streamlining access to information and services. Additionally, House Bill 1000 enhances the quality and precision of school mapping data to ensure that first responders, school personnel, and families have the information they need to act quickly and effectively during elopement emergencies. Having accurate, accessible mapping tools can make the difference between life and loss,” states Del. Aletheia McCaskill (D-Baltimore County), a sponsor of some of the bills.

The legislation also requires mapping of a one-mile radius of schools to note bodies of water and roads that can be particularly dangerous so that emergency responders can go to those areas first.

About 17% of elopements are fatal due to drowning, traffic encounters, abduction and hypothermia.