Missing Baltimore boy Tristan King was found. What happens now?

After nearly six months of running, hiding and sleeping who knows where in South Baltimore, 9-year-old Tristan King spent the last four nights under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Human Services.

Authorities found Tristan on Friday, March 13, at a house in the Curtis Bay neighborhood. They’d searched for him since Sept. 24, the day he ran away from a Human Services caseworker.

He was taken to a Baltimore hospital for an evaluation and has since been sent to what’s known as a treatment foster home in Prince George’s County, according to his grandmother. It’s a family setting, but it’s specialized for high-needs children.

Treatment foster homes are for children who have a “serious emotional, behavioral, medical, or psychological condition” and require extra supervision and therapeutic care, according to state policy.

The foster family is licensed to provide some treatment, and caseworkers are required to visit twice a month, compared to once for traditional foster homes. The care is less intensive than it would be at an inpatient treatment center like Sheppard Pratt.

A spokesperson for the Human Services Department declined to comment on Tristan’s status, citing child welfare confidentiality laws.

“Tristan deserves the opportunity to thrive in a safe and loving home, and we are doing everything necessary to make that happen,” department communications director Ben Shnider said in a statement last week.

A Banner investigation published on March 11 detailed how the people and systems meant to protect Tristan had failed him, and how bureaucratic red tape and administrative mistakes made searching for and locating him especially difficult.

Tristan tried to run away from his new foster home over the weekend, said Donna White, his grandmother. However, the family managed to convince Tristan to stay, and White said her grandson is “doing OK.”

She learned of Tristan’s most recent whereabouts during a court hearing Monday regarding Tristan’s future custody and living situation. Those court proceedings are not open to the public.

“He’s going to have some problems adjusting, but I think he’ll be fine,” White said, adding that she expects Tristan to be at the foster home for some time.

White said that another court hearing is scheduled in two weeks, and that state officials are already discussing getting Tristan back in the classroom; Baltimore City Public Schools unenrolled Tristan last year when he missed more than two weeks of school after White had a stroke.

When children enter Maryland’s foster care system, the Human Services Department’s main goal is to find a permanent placement. That could mean reunification with a parent or family member, adoption, or someone becoming their legal guardian.

In Tristan’s case, he has a legal guardian: his grandmother. But White has lived in a nursing home since having her stroke, and she cannot leave because her home burned down while she was away. Tristan’s mother lost custody to White, her mother, shortly after his birth due to substance use. Police said one relative, his great-aunt, hid Tristan when he was considered missing. Another relative had been prepared to take Tristan in last fall, but he ran from her and continued to evade authorities.

The state will likely consider many options for Tristan as it searches for the right fit, said Judith Schagrin, a former assistant director of the Baltimore County Department of Social Services.

Tristan’s propensity to run away does not necessarily mean he will be considered an immediate risk to himself, Schagrin said, even though such a distinction could unlock more placement options with greater security. Schagrin said finding the right fit may not be easy. There are too few slots.

“We have such a mismatch between what children need and what Maryland has,” Schagrin said. “But I hope we can rally the resources he needs and surround him with people who care about him.”

The state has made Tristan’s case a priority. Gov. Wes Moore said he became personally involved in the matter and pledged to make sure he gets the care he needs.

“We owe Tristan action, not excuses, and we will keep working to make sure no child falls through the cracks like this again,” Moore said last week.

Adam Rosenberg, the executive director of the LifeBridge Center for Hope, said Tristan is not the only vulnerable child Maryland’s child welfare system has failed in recent months.

Kanaiyah Ward, a foster teen who died at an East Baltimore hotel in September, is another.

Rosenberg called on lawmakers to consider a special legislative session at which child welfare reform is the focus.

“We need a moon-shot-like task force,” he said. “We need lawmakers and thought leaders to come together and ensure that what happened to Tristan never happens again. We need action.”