Mom stays at her house some nights and yours on others. Her coat travels. Her familiar evening words travel. The streets, doors, neighbors, and places she may head do not.

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Do not ask one general missing-person plan to cover both homes. Make one short page for each address. The pages can share Mom's photo and basic information, but the search directions must begin at the door she actually used.

This matters because a changed setting can add confusion, and a person with dementia may try to reach a former home, workplace, place of worship, or favorite business. The Alzheimer's Association recommends keeping a recent close-up photo, identifying nearby hazards, and listing places the person may go. Its guidance is listed on the Sources page.

Start with the last door, not the family address

At the top of each page, write the full address of that household and the words: “Start here.” Add the exterior door Mom most often approaches at dusk. If she also uses a garage, patio, side gate, or basement walkout, name those openings too.

Walk from each opening in every direction Mom could reasonably take. Do not copy the route from an online map and call the job finished. Stand where she would stand. Check whether the sidewalk ends, whether a fence turns her toward an alley, whether a path joins another street, and whether a bus stop, footbridge, parking lot, or open stairway is nearby.

The Alzheimer's Association advises families to know the neighborhood and identify such hazards as water, dense growth, tunnels, open stairways, bus stops, and heavily traveled roads. Its wandering guidance is cited on the Sources page.

Circle the first places that require an immediate look. At her house, that may be the creek beyond the back fence. At yours, it may be the parking entrance she can see from the porch. A helper should not have to remember which hazard belongs to which home while also trying to remember what Mom was wearing.

Give each home its own likely-place list

Ask what “home,” “work,” or “the children” means when Mom is standing at each address. Her answer may point to a different destination from your house than from hers.

For each household, write no more than a handful of places that someone can check without interpretation. Use a name, a location, and the reason it belongs on the list. “Church” is too loose. “The church on Oak Street, where she still expects evening choir” tells a searcher where to go. “Old house” is too loose. Include the address or the nearest cross street.

Add places Mom has actually tried to reach, even if the reason does not make sense to anyone else. A former job, an old neighbor's porch, a familiar shop, and a family member's previous home can matter. The Alzheimer's Association specifically recommends listing former homes, past workplaces, places of worship, and favorite restaurants among possible destinations. See the nonprofit guidance collected on the Sources page.

Keep guesses separate from known routes. Mark a place “has gone before” only when that is true. A shorter accurate list is more useful than a page filled with every place Mom has ever known.

Fit the people list to the block

The neighbor beside Mom's house may recognize her immediately. That person may know nothing about your street. Give each household its own call list.

Choose people who are usually nearby and who have agreed to answer. Beside each name, write one job: check the shared courtyard, look along the walking trail, watch the bus stop, or stay at the house in case Mom returns. The Alzheimer's Association recommends asking neighbors, friends, and family to call when they see the person wandering or alone. That guidance appears on the Sources page.

Do not make everyone a roaming searcher. One person should remain reachable at the starting address. That person can tell police where Mom was last seen, what she was wearing, which areas have been checked, and whether she has returned.

If Mom lives in a building with a desk, manager, security entrance, or shared garage, ask now what staff can actually see and whom they can contact. At your house, ask the equivalent questions of the people who are truly present. A plan should reflect the household you have, not the household you wish were there.

Use one current photo, then add one doorway photo

Keep the same recent close-up photo of Mom with both plans. It should look like her now, without sunglasses or another person blocking her face. The Alzheimer's Association recommends having a recent close-up photo ready to give police. Its guidance is cited on the Sources page.

Then add a photo of Mom dressed as she commonly leaves from that home. The blue coat kept at her house may not help someone searching near yours if she wears a tan sweater there. This second photo is not a substitute for writing down what she wore when she left. It is a quick visual aid for the people searching nearby.

Place a blank line on each page for clothing, shoes, coat, bag, and direction last seen. Whoever notices she is gone fills those lines immediately.

Test the handoff from both homes

Give the plan to someone who did not build it. Start at one household and ask that person to find the named door, the first hazard, the likely-place list, the photo, and the police handoff details. Repeat the test at the other home.

If the person reaches for the wrong page, the plans look too similar. Put the street name in large type at the top. Use a clear photo of the correct front entrance. Store the paper in the same kind of place at both homes, such as inside one marked kitchen cabinet, while keeping a copy available on the phones of the people most likely to respond.

Make sure both households know the same stopping point. The Alzheimer's Association says to begin searching immediately and to call 911 if Mom is not found within fifteen minutes, while telling the dispatcher that she has dementia. Its full response guidance is listed on the Sources page. You do not need to wait before calling when danger is immediate.

When you call, start with the location from which Mom is missing. Then give her photo, clothing, last known direction, nearby hazards, likely destinations, and the places already checked. Police decide what public alert or wider response is appropriate. For the Missouri process and local support contacts, use Lifelines: Dementia Help in St. Louis.

Reset the plan when Mom changes homes

The move between households needs a spoken handoff. Say which coat and shoes she has, whether she brought a purse or keys, what she has been saying about leaving, and which plan now applies. Put the correct household page where the person covering dusk can reach it.

You are not trying to predict every turn Mom could take. You are making the first minutes usable. Two homes mean two starting points. Fit the page to the door, the block, and the people who will actually be there.

Mom Stays in Two Homes. Fit the Missing-Person Plan to Each Front Door.