Families & Carers of People ‘At Risk’

Why you need Safe Return Home

Many people living in the community, residential care settings and temporary accommodation can have problems that leave them vulnerable as they go about their daily activities (Case Studies). Wandering  and missing person problems are not restricted to one age group or even to a single disability or medical condition. 

Given that many ‘at risk’ individuals are mobile and involved in a broad range of activities it is important that services be offered to help them live their lives to the fullest while maintaining a high level of safety and care. The Safe Return Home system is such a service. Using the Safe Return Home system families and carers can make certain that the relevant details of people ‘at risk’ of wandering or becoming lost are recorded and readily available should a need arise.

In the unfortunate event of a missing person episode, all identification details are immediately available for Police and may be used for search, broadcast and identification purposes. By undertaking this proactive step families and carers will not be faced with the panic of having to organise these details during the stressful time of the incident. 

The Safe Return Home system also contains a public web site. If approved by the carer, the details of the missing person will be listed on this website. This information can then be viewed by Transport Services (train; bus; tram; taxi) and other entities, such as Shopping Centre management.

What you receive from the Safe Return Home system

The Safe Return Home system provides many features to help support people ‘at risk’ and their families.  The features include:

1. an up-to-date web application (database) for Police to help them identify or locate a missing person.

2. a public web site* enabling people in the community that are likely to come into contact with people that appear lost or disorientated to check to see if that person is listed as ‘missing or lost ’ by the Police.  People likely to use this web site include public transport and taxi services as well as shopping centre management. Please note information on this site will only be made available with carer permission.

3. option of purchasing an on-person identification Medical ID Product to provide additional security.  

4. a private and secure internet database available 24-hours 7 days per week from any location for families and carers to store details of the ‘at risk’ person’s medical, care, and behavioural needs. Safe Return Home provides much more than a system relevant for the speedy location and identification of missing people.  If you wish to store details that could help with management of your important medical information, then Safe Return Home is also for you.  It also provides for easy retrieval of this essential medical (doctor contact; medications; allergies; other special requirements), behavioural and care needs information from your own secure internet site. Registrants or carers can access this information via the Internet database and can print and mail, or distribute via fax or email to respite services, medical authorities or hospital staff if needed in an emergency.

Intellectual Disability

Some children and young adults have problems that can leave them vulnerable as they move about within the community (eg. people with an intellectual disability).  These include:

• individuals who experience difficulties with daily living activities. For example,
  problems expressing and understanding language.
• difficulties in acquiring the skills necessary to recognize familiar surroundings.
• difficulties in acquiring or using the skills necessary to travel independently in the community.

Individuals, especially young children, who are inquisitive about their surroundings, but lack the skills to understand the dangers of slipping away from their carer to explore their environment. This type of behaviour has been noted by the carers of young children with Down syndrome and has been termed ‘elopement’. Sometimes carers do not realise that this behaviour is fairly common and therefore feel isolated as well as stressed.

Information Collected on the Safe Return Home System

Basic information available for all individuals on database:

• Colour photograph
• Detailed description of person
• Contact details of carer and other listed contact persons

  Depending on the carer’s wishes, further details may also be available including:

• Medical conditions and diagnostic Information
• Dementia diagnosis
• Psychiatric diagnosis
• Developmental disability
• Critical medications that patient requires
• Contact details of treating doctors
• Activity of Daily Living Restrictions
• Memory
• Orientation
• Outside Home Functioning
• Relevant Life History
• Previous Places of Residency
• Home address during early adulthood
• Previous Workplace Address
• If missing, likely destination
• Behavioural Information
• Behaviours of concern
• Carer suggested management approaches
• Name to address person by
• Suggested topics for discussion when find person 

Case Studies

The Case Studies provided are examples of real life situations.  The dilemmas and concerns faced by the carers and ‘at risk’ people in these and other case studies have been taken into consideration during the design phases of the ‘Safe Return Home’ system. A primary goal of the system is to significantly improve the outcome of cases like these and to reduce carer stress.