I was listening to the news tonight, and was horrified by this story: A kid who has Asperberger syndrome, a form of autism, recently rode the New York City subway for 11 days straight. Francisco Hernandez Jr. got in trouble at school and fled, worried he'd also be in hot water at home. As his family searched frantically for him, he rode the train, subsisting on foods he got from newsstands. For 11 days, nobody questioned him; finally, a transit cop ID'd him.
When I hear stories about kids with special needs who wander off or disappear, they haunt me. They never did find five-year-old Hassani Campbell, the missing boy in California who has cerebral palsy.
As a parent, you obviously do anything possible to protect your child. But when you have a child who's more helpless than others, the responsibility that lies on your shoulders feels that much greater.
Photo by Jag9889
