Register with the Sheriff's Take Me Home program, know the first-hour steps, and understand what California law requires of a facility — before the first time it happens.
By Patricia Nguyen, CDP · August 07, 2026
Almost every San Diego family we work with treats wandering as a someday problem — right up until the afternoon it happens. A father who has walked the same El Cajon block for thirty years turns the wrong direction at the corner. A mother in a Chula Vista board-and-care follows a visitor out an unlatched patio gate. In both cases the family spends the first twenty minutes doing the least useful thing possible: driving around looking, alone, without calling anyone.
The Alzheimer's Association estimates that roughly 6 in 10 people living with dementia will wander at least once, and many will do it repeatedly. It is not a sign of neglect and it is not always preceded by warning behavior. It also does not require advanced disease — early-stage wandering usually looks like purposeful travel toward a former job, a former home, or a person who has died, which is exactly why it doesn't register to bystanders as an emergency.
San Diego County's geography raises the stakes. Canyons, freeway corridors, coastal bluffs, and inland heat that regularly clears 100 degrees in Escondido and El Cajon mean the safe search window is measured in hours, not days. Everything in this article is worth doing this week rather than after the first incident.
The single highest-value step available to San Diego families is free and most people have never heard of it. The San Diego County Sheriff's Department runs a voluntary registry called Take Me Home, developed with Alzheimer's San Diego, for county residents at risk of wandering — people living with dementia, autism, or other developmental or cognitive disabilities.
You submit a current headshot, basic identifying details, notes that help an officer connect with the person (a nickname they answer to, a favorite place they head for, how they respond to strangers), and emergency contacts. The record is confidential and accessible only to law enforcement during an incident, and it includes facial-recognition matching so that a deputy who encounters someone unable to say their own name can identify them and get them home rather than routing them to a hospital or a shelter. Register at the Sheriff's self-service portal at sdsheriff.gov (search "Take Me Home Registry") or through your local Crime Prevention Specialist. Alzheimer's San Diego, at (858) 492-4400, also holds enrollment sessions and will walk you through it.
Two things to pair with it. Update the photo whenever appearance changes noticeably — an outdated photo is the most common weakness in a registry entry. And put identification on the person, not just in a wallet they may leave behind: an engraved bracelet or a sewn-in clothing label with a phone number works when a phone in a pocket does not.
Call 911 immediately. There is no waiting period for reporting a missing adult in California, and any agency that tells you to wait 24 hours is wrong — law enforcement is required to accept a missing person report without delay. Say the words "missing adult with dementia" or "at-risk missing person" early in the call, because that phrasing changes the response tier. If the person is enrolled in Take Me Home, say so and give their name.
While waiting, send searchers to the specific places you already know matter: a former residence, a former workplace, a church, a favorite restaurant, the direction of an adult child's house. Published search data consistently finds people with dementia within a relatively short radius of where they were last seen, often on foot and often within a half mile — so search density near the last known point beats a wide loop by car.
Ask the responding agency about a Silver Alert. California's Silver Alert program, created by SB 1047 in 2012 and coordinated by the CHP, can push a missing person's information to freeway signs and media outlets. Activation requires that the person is 65 or older, developmentally disabled, or cognitively impaired; that local resources have been used; that the agency believes the disappearance is unexplained or suspicious; and that there is information available that could realistically help the public locate them. You cannot request a Silver Alert directly — only the investigating agency can — but asking about it prompts the conversation.
Have one document ready in advance and the whole sequence gets faster: a single page with a recent photo, height and weight, medications and diagnoses, vehicle and license plate if they still drive, and the addresses that mean something to them. Keep a copy on your phone.
If your parent lives in a licensed Residential Care Facility for the Elderly, wandering is governed by Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, section 87705, the RCFE dementia care rule, substantially revised in a package that took effect January 1, 2025. It is worth reading the actual expectations before you accept a facility's reassurance.
A few points families rarely know. Delayed egress devices and secured perimeters are permitted, but the licensee must notify Community Care Licensing when one is installed and the fire clearance must specifically approve it — so ask to see that clearance, not just the locked door. The regulations are also explicit that a secured perimeter or delayed egress device does not substitute for having enough trained staff to supervise residents, including staff available to escort a resident who wants to go outside. And a resident who continues to indicate a desire to leave after redirection is to be permitted to do so with staff supervision; a memory care unit is not authorized to simply confine someone.
Before you place a parent anywhere, pull the facility's licensing file yourself at ccld.dss.ca.gov. Elopement incidents generate citations and complaint investigations, and those records are public. If your parent already lives somewhere and you're worried about supervision, the San Diego County Long-Term Care Ombudsman at (800) 640-4661 will discuss the community with you at no cost and without opening a formal complaint. For care planning, in-home support options, and referrals, County of San Diego Aging & Independence Services is at (800) 339-4661. For overnight questions and crisis support, the Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Helpline is (800) 272-3900.
Free, no-pressure call. We work for families, not facilities.