Oregon DHS searching for missing foster children

Salem, Ore. – The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Child Welfare Division, asks the public to help find three missing foster children out of Oregon.

Clarence Windom, age 18, a teenager in foster care who went missing from Salem on Oct. 15, 2020. He is believed to be in danger.

ODHS asks the public for help in the effort to find him and to contact the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline at 1-855-503-SAFE (7233) if they believe they see him. He knows the Salem area and its unhoused encampments well.

Authorities are also searching for Mataya Gearhart, age 17, a foster child who went missing from Portland. on Dec. 5, 2020. She is believed to be in danger.

Mataya Gearhart is believed to have traveled out Oregon.

Also missing is Quinton Pauley, age 18, a teenager in foster care, who went missing from Portland on Dec. 7, 2020. He is believed to be in danger.

ODHS asks the public for help in the effort to find him and to contact 911 or local law enforcement if they believe they see him. He is known to frequent the surrounding areas of the Max Station near SE Holgate Blvd and SE 92nd Ave in Portland.

Anyone who suspects they have information about any of these missing foster children’s locations should call Oregon Child Abuse Hotline at 1-855-503-SAFE (7233).

A small number of children in foster care may be in significant danger when they run away or have gone missing. As ODHS works to do everything it can to find these missing children and ensure their safety, media alerts will be issued in some circumstances when it is determined necessary. Sometimes, in these situations, a child may go missing repeatedly, resulting in more than one media alert for the same child.