DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — For Laura Wozniak, news of a missing child isn't just a headline — it’s a trigger. On Sunday, when 6-year-old Johnathan walked away from his home in Madison Heights, she felt every second of his parents' agony.
Wozniak's 7-year-old son J.J. has autism, and she said the constant vigilance is exhausting.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
“My heart sank into my stomach. I cried for a while. My husband kept telling me to stop checking, stop checking. They’ll find him, they’ll find him. And after so many hours, I just lost hope — I did," the Dearborn resident recalled.
Wozniak said of her son, “I can hear when he’s thinking about running away. I know him so well. In his body language and everything I know, and the fact that he’s gotten away from me before, it scares me."
Ali K. Bazzi shares that anxiety. The Dearborn resident's 7-year-old son is non-verbal, just like the young boy in Madison Heights.
“As a parent of a child with special needs, when these things happen, you feel like it happens to your child. My wife and I were talking last night. I go, 'This feels like just two weeks ago,'" he explained.
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He's referring to Yousif Naim, a 30-year-old with autism who wandered away from home. In the autism community, it's known as eloping.
Tragically, Dearborn Heights police later found Naim's body in the Rouge River.
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Mona Alaouie, the co-founder of Blue Hands United for Autism in Dearborn, turned that pain into purpose by launching Yousif's Guiding Hands.
The organization is now distributing tracking devices, like AirTags, that parents can place discreetly on children or vulnerable adults.
“It’s very common for individuals with autism to elope. There is no blame or shame on the family, on a school or on a community if a child elopes from a home. It’s a very common act or behavior, and it’s usually they have a plan, there’s a mission.”
So far, she said she's received 250 requests for the devices.
“There’s no foolproof solution to anything, but if we can provide a little sense of comfort, then we feel it is successful," Alauie explained.
Both the Bazzi and Wozniak families now have the trackers. It's a small piece of technology providing some sense of relief.
“We are so fortunate to live in this day and age to have AirTags and other technologies to be able to find people very quickly," Bazzi said.
Wozniak said, “The peace of mind that these AirTags from Yousif's initiative gave us is amazing. That is my biggest fear. I literally live my life from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed at night in fear every single day that something will happen to my son."
If you’d like to connect with Blue Hands United for Autism, you can find information on their website.
