Petition calls for change to Amber Alert after missing Ontario boy found dead in river

Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition urging for a change to Ontario's Amber Alert system after an 11-year-old Ontario boy was found deceased in a river on Monday.

The young boy’s body was discovered in the Scugog River, near Lindsay, Ont., after he wandered away from home about 24 hours earlier. Draven Graham, who lived with autism, slipped out of the house while his father was shaving on Sunday morning. That was the last time he was seen.

Following the devastating series of events, Kat Reid, from Hamilton, Ont., created a petition to create a “Draven Alert” for “missing autistic and vulnerable/special needs children.”

At the moment, the Amber Alert is an emergency broadcast specifically dedicated to seeking public assistance when a child is abducted.

“The issuing of an Amber Alert is not taken lightly. Specific guidelines must be met in order for an Amber Alert to be distributed,” the Ontario Provincial Police website reads.

Those guidelines include law enforcement believing a child under 18 years of age has been abducted, they are in danger, there is descriptive information available and then, a brief alert is released to help locate the child.

But when Graham went missing, there was no Amber Alert because he was not abducted.

However, more than 30,000 people want to change that for future cases like this one.

“The more awareness and attention we can bring to this while it's still fresh in everyone's minds, the better. Unfortunately all the hype dies down VERY quickly in these situations, nothing ends up changing, and then the list of tragic endings continues to grow,” Reid wrote on the petition.

“This needs to happen,” Ryan Rubenstein of Milton wrote. “If even one life is saved as a result, it is worth it. Be loud..be mad..this is a tragedy, but also be HEARD. The more who sign..the louder our voice becomes. Thanks to anyone who has signed or shared.”

On their website, police say that if Amber Alerts are overused, it could "diminish public response when it is truly needed."

An Amber Alert is activated in this undated file image.

Meanwhile, others are urging for the petition to go a step further to also include people over the age of 18. Racehl Laroque from Woodbridge, Ont., writes, “Please remember autism doesn’t end at 18 and let’s make sure autistic/ vulnerable adults & seniors are also included on this alert.”

The petition is working towards reaching 35,000 signatures.