"At Breakfast, My Son Went Missing" — School Loses 5-Year-Old Autistic Child

One of the hardest parts of being a parent is learning to let go and allow your child to grow and thrive on their own. That means sending them off to school, letting them go on playdates with friends, and trusting them to start figuring life out without you helping every step of the way.

So when we loosen that grip a little, like sending them off to school, we expect the adults around them to put their safety and well-being first.

For one parent, that expectation fell shockingly short. The parent, who goes by @gwynough on TikTok, says he sent his 5-year-old autistic son to school, only to find out a day later that his son had wandered off and ended up in a bathroom, half-naked, with another child. I know!

Take a deep breath and keep reading to find out how it happened.

TikToker @gwynough says he dropped his son off at school early, as he often does so his child can get breakfast. And that morning, he ran into his son’s teacher. For context, his son is 5, in kindergarten, and autistic.

During their conversation, the teacher mentioned that his son had been experiencing some behavior issues, but apologized for not calling the night before to inform him about an incident that had happened the previous day.

Going in blind, the father asked what happened. The teacher explained that while at breakfast the day before, his son went missing. Somehow, he managed to leave the cafeteria and make it to the far side of the school.

He was later found in a bathroom with another child, with his pants and underwear off. The father doesn’t know how long this went on, what exactly happened, or if anyone else entered the bathroom during that time, he only heard about it the following day.

One of the first issues he raised was how his son was able to get to that bathroom, located at the front of the school. To reach it, his son would have had to leave the cafeteria, cross a courtyard, and go through a set of doors that are supposed to be locked.

It’s unclear if the doors were unlocked, someone let him through, or if he somehow found another way around the school.

Regardless, he reached the opposite end of the school without anyone stopping him or asking where he should be. The teacher also mentioned that the other child in the bathroom “also has problems,” which the TikToker assumes means that the child may also be considered special needs.

Another concern is that, aside from wandering off and ending up in the bathroom half-naked with another child, the teacher never reported the incident to the principal or contacted the parent immediately.

The TikToker later learned that a school security guard — “some other strange man” — retrieved his son from the bathroom.

He also points out that the security guard’s desk is located right at the front entrance of the school, which is where the bathroom is located, asking, “Where was he?” and questioning why the guard didn’t report it to the principal.

Frustrated, he tells the camera, “We’re lucky he was in there with another child, and not an older student, or an adult, or someone off the f---in street, because it’s right by the front door.”

While it’s normal for children to go to the bathroom during school, the concern here is that his son was able to access areas he probably wouldn’t normally be allowed during standard school hours.

Remember, he was there early for breakfast. This leads me to believe there weren’t enough staff members monitoring the halls, allowing him to venture off.

There’s clearly a lot to unpack with this story. People are urging the parent to take his child to a doctor for an exam to ensure nothing worse happened.

While he hasn’t indicated whether he’s done that, he has reported the incident to local police. He’s also been posting updates on TikTok, so if you want to follow the story as it unfolds, it’s all available there.