The Maryland Department of Human Services has finally confirmed what advocates have suspected for years: 990 children in state foster care have been reported missing since 2020.

The disclosure came through an MPIA request filed by survivors Jennifer Guskin and Bailey Templeton, who forced the release of statewide data long kept out of public view. Their findings expose how Maryland quietly merged the category “unknown whereabouts” into “runaway,” effectively hiding children whose locations were never confirmed.

“They didn’t solve the problem,” Guskin said. “They solved the reporting.”

Among the 990 children:

• 585 are ages 14–17
• 29 are under age 9
• 562 are girls
• Over 400 are from Baltimore City

A policy change in 2021 erased the difference between children who fled placements and those who simply vanished — a bureaucratic decision that buried accountability.

The Family Forward Project is now pressing for national transparency, while Father & Co. and MDBayNews will continue investigating how these cases were handled, what happened to the youngest children, and why the state failed to act sooner.

Until Maryland answers one question, this story isn’t over:
Where did these children go — and why did no one notice sooner?

🔗 Read the full investigation.
#Maryland #FosterCare #Accountability #FamilyForwardProject #FatherAndCo