Virginia launched a new alert system on July 1, 2021, to be used when adults with autism go missing. Efforts to create the alert started after a 29-year-old woman with autism went missing and drowned in a swampy area a mile away from her home. The Virginia State Police also began using a new communications platform to notify the public about the state’s six different alerts. Virginia has an AMBER Alert, Senior Alert, Critically Missing Adult “Ashanti” Alert, Missing Child with Autism Alert, and the new alert for missing adults with autism. The platform is designed to get the key details out to the public more quickly.

The New York Police Department has expanded the types of alerts that will be sent to the public by phone, text and e-mail. Notify NYC will send a Senior Alert when an elderly person is missing. A Missing Child/College Student Alert will be activated when a child or college student of any age is reported missing and deemed to be endangered, but does not meet the AMBER Alert criteria.