'Help Dayna Get Home': A Lake Forest Mom's Letter To Her Town

LAKE FOREST, CA — "She won't tell you her name is Dayna, but she will answer to it," mom Jill Harris says.

In late December, Dayna Harris, 7, fled her Lake Forest home. Though she was only gone a matter of a few minutes, her sudden absence terrified her parents. Instead of living in fear, they stepped out on faith to introduce her to the neighborhood to help get her back home should it happen again.

Dayna is affected by severe autism and is developmentally disabled and nonverbal, according to Harris. She has no thought of danger or her own safety, her mother says.

On that December day, a few moments of panic changed everything. The garage door was left open, and Dayna was gone. It was a terrifying moment.

"It was only a few minutes when we realized she was gone," Harris said. "My husband ran after her, and I got in my car." A neighbor stood outside, watching the other children for the few minutes they were searching for their missing daughter, found without shoes or clothes, heading toward the park.

Though Dayna was only gone a short time, Harris did the only thing she could think of. She wrote a letter to Lake Forest.

If the neighbors knew about her severely autistic daughter and where she lives, Dayna would be safer if she runs away again.

According to the family, as Dayna gets older, she runs away more often.

Though the Harris family has outfitted their home with alarms, it also has registered Dayna with Orange County Sheriff's Department's Take Me Home Program. Still, the possibility remains that Dayna could run from her home again.

So Harris wrote the letter.

"We wanted to reach out to our Lake Forest family and introduce her, so they would know who she was, where she lives, in case it happens again," Harris told Patch.

The coronavirus shutdown has been hard for the whole family. They have a support network through the local Jewish community and a special-needs group. Still, Dayna regressed a bit and even more so over the holidays, according to her mother. She attends a nearby elementary school in their special education program.

Thankfully, the Harris family has never had to call the police to find Dayna. Harris hopes they never have to.

The more people who know of her, the better, Harris said.

Sharing her story and Dayna's picture on the Lake Forest Connections Facebook page, the community shared their family's support.

"It takes a village," Sheryce Boike wrote in answer, over Facebook.

Though she knows that the Orange County Sheriff's Department is available, having a network of neighbors who know who Dayna is brings added peace of mind.

"It scared us so bad," Harris said. Dayna, due to her disabilities, has a mentality of a child of 3 or 4.

Harris' hope for sending out the letter would be if someone sees her out and running through the streets, they would bring her home or call her family.

"Ultimately, I hope this never happens again," Harris says. "I love her so much."