Tragic Hart County case highlights importance of Kentucky’s new ‘Ian Alert’ system
HART COUNTY, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) — Kentucky’s first-ever Ian Alert was issued Tuesday for a missing 5-year-old boy in Hart County — a system designed to help locate children with disabilities in immediate danger.
Sadly, the search ended in tragedy when young Silas Shearer was found dead. But advocates say the new alert helped mobilize resources and search efforts quickly.
The Ian Alert is named after Ian Sousis, an autistic child who drowned in 2022, and is specifically intended for children with disabilities who may not respond to their name or seek help if lost. It works much like an Amber Alert, pushing emergency notifications statewide to phones and media outlets.
To ensure you receive these alerts, go into your phone settings and enable “emergency notifications.”
The Autism Society urges families to prepare now by using tools like door and window alarms, stop signs at exits, and registering with services like Smart911. More information is available at autism-society.org.
