When someone you support goes missing, a reunification profile decides most of the first ten minutes.
A free reunification profile that gives first responders what a parent or a direct support professional already knows: what the person looks like tonight, where they are likely to go, and how to approach them without driving them away.
Two pages, fillable on screen or printable. Free to copy and use. No sign-up required.
Four pieces. One afternoon.
Build the profile first, then fill in the wallet card from it. Use the guide to get it right and decide where it lives. Then run the checklist against the rest of the plan.
At-Risk Reunification Profile
A fillable two-page form a responder can read in the dark. It opens with a responder quick view, then covers photo and description, where the person is drawn to, how to approach them, medical needs with a clock on them, equipment and service animals, and who may pick them up.
Responder Quick Card
A fold-over wallet card for the moments you are not there: what to call the person, how they communicate, what helps, what to avoid, and who to call. It leaves off the address, date of birth, and diagnosis.
How to Use the Reunification Profile
Who should have one, what each section is for, how to keep it private, the first ten minutes when someone is missing, what changes in a disaster, and how to decide whether to pre-share it with local law enforcement.
Person-Centered Emergency Planning Checklist
Twelve planning domains, one person at a time: alerts, medications, power-dependent equipment, evacuation, staffing, sensory supports, elopement, transportation, shelter, technology, family communication, and testing.
A profile that only exists in a case file is not there when the power is out.
Keep it in three places, put the Quick Card on the person, and review everything every six months.
Printed at the residence
In a spot every shift can find in the dark: inside a cabinet door or in the medication binder, in a sealed envelope.
In the go-bag
With medications, chargers, and comfort items, so it travels with the person during an evacuation or a shelter stay.
Pre-shared with local law enforcement, if you choose
Ask your sheriff, police department, or 911 center whether they keep a vulnerable-person or special-needs registry, and how the record is stored and who can see it. If there is no registry, ask the community resource officer to keep a copy on file.
A completed profile holds health information, medications, a photo, and details about how to approach the person. Keep it on paper or a password-protected device, sealed in the go-bag, and on your own or your provider’s secure systems. Never post it online or send it by regular email, and leave off Social Security numbers, Medicaid IDs, and passwords. We offer the blank forms here and never collect completed profiles through this website.
The first ten minutes
Call 911 first and search while you are on the phone. One person leads. Nobody does all of them.
Confirm, then call 911
A quick sweep of the room and the yard confirms it. Say “missing vulnerable adult” or “missing person with a disability.” Give the last-seen time, clothing, and direction, and say you have a reunification profile ready. Stay on the line.
Search the immediate area
One person checks water, vehicles, closets, under beds, and the places they are drawn to on the property. Call their name the way they respond to it.
Account for everyone else
A second person cannot go missing while everyone searches for the first.
Notify on-call and family
One person owns outside communication from this point forward.
Hand over the profile
Fill in Section 2 and give it to the first responder on scene. Read Section 5, How to approach, aloud to every searcher before they go out.
Keep searching
Widen outward from the last-seen point, checking water first. Log who checked where. When law enforcement arrives they command the search; your job is one point of contact and everything you know about the person. Ask whether your state’s Silver Alert or endangered-person advisory applies.
Test your plan the way emergency managers do.
These materials come from Beyond the Binder: Can Your Disability Support System Survive the Storm?, an interactive tabletop workshop from the 2026 MACDDS Annual Conference in Columbia, Missouri.
Reunification Profiles: Helping First Responders Help the Person You Love
Why the profile exists, what a responder actually needs in the first minute, and how families and providers can build one together.
Building a profile for someone you support?
We are glad to talk it through, whether it is one person at home or everyone in a residential program.
Get future resources by email
Person-centered technology, equipment, services, and ongoing support. Every recommendation begins with the person.
Office: 122 S. Main St., St. Charles, MO 63301
Mailing: 119 S. Main St., St. Charles, MO 63301
314-266-2678
info@graymattersalliance.com
