A parent with dementia has started wandering

Last verified: October 2026

What should you do right away if a parent with dementia wanders?

Call 911 immediately if your parent is missing; in Tucson's heat a missing older adult is an emergency at any time of year, and especially from late spring through early fall.

Keep a recent photo and a list of places your parent might head toward, such as a former home or workplace.

How can you make home safer while you plan?

Add door chimes or alarms, keep car keys out of reach, use a GPS device or ID bracelet, and set a daily routine with supervised walks.

Tell neighbors. In many Tucson neighborhoods a neighbor is the first person to see a parent leave.

Where can Tucson families get dementia support?

Pima Council on Aging offers free memory screenings and an options counselor through Dementia Capable Southern Arizona; call (520) 790-7262.

PCOA also runs caregiver consultations and support groups.

When is directed care assisted living needed?

When wandering keeps happening despite safeguards, or your parent can no longer recognize danger or summon help, Arizona's directed care license is the level designed for that need, with wander-safety policies and controlled exits.

Directed care licenses in Pima County →

What should you ask a memory care provider about wandering?

Ask how exits are alarmed or controlled, how big the secured outdoor area is, how staff respond to exit-seeking at night, and how many residents left the building unattended in the last year.

Then check AZ Care Check for citations that mention supervision or elopement.

What should you tell a new facility about wandering?

Tell the facility when and where your parent has tried to leave, what triggered it, and what calmed them, because staff can plan routines and supervision around a pattern they know about.

Facilities would rather hear it at admission than discover it on the first night.

Does Arizona require a locked unit for someone who wanders?

No. Arizona requires a directed care facility to have wander-safety policies and an exit arrangement that alerts staff or controls egress to an outside area at least 30 feet from the building, rather than a locked unit as such.

Ask to see how the system works and test whether the alert sounds where staff will hear it.

Wandering response: what helps and what does not