Runaway Teenager from NEW FOUNDATIONS C&FS

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Video news footage at the link...

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WYFF4.com
Deputies Look For Runaway Teenager
Kisha Foster, WYFF News 4 Reporter

POSTED: 5:37 pm EDT September 10, 2010
UPDATED: 8:10 pm EDT September 10, 2010

Anderson, S.C. -- The Anderson County Sheriff's Office is trying to find Cheyenne McWilliams, a teenager who ran away while under the supervision of New Foundations Children and Family Services.

The organization is a nonprofit treatment for facility for emotionally troubled children and teenagers.

"On Monday, when they (New Foundations) called, they said your daughter is gone. I said, 'What do you mean, she is gone?' They replied, 'Well, she walked out of Ryan's Restaurant,'" said Pat McWilliams, mother of the missing girl.

McWilliams told WYFF News 4, that on Labor Day members of the New Foundations staff took the residents to the Ryan's Restaurant located on Highway 28.

The mother of four recalled what she was told about what happened before her daughter left the restaurant.

"I was told my daughter stood up and started heading toward the food section, and her supervisor for her area asked her where she was going. And she said going to get more food. She (the supervisor) she said OK and apparently turned her back, started talking to the other girls and didn't realize my daughter had walked out the door until a man said hey one of your girls is walking down the railroad track," said McWilliams.

McWilliams described Cheyenne as having behavioral and emotional problems.

"She's like a 10-year-old. If I were to come to you and you were Cheyenne, I'd say I like you, do this for me and she'll do it so you'll like her," said McWilliams.

Anderson County investigators report, the teenager was last seen on Wednesday in the Greenville area with two boys who were also staying at the group home.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts are asked to call authorities.


Copyright 2010 by WYFF4.com.

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Comments left for the above article, "Deputies Look For Runaway Teenager" (by Kisha Foster; September 10, 2010; WYFF4.com):

14
clemsonmom · Sep. 10, 2010 8:50pm EST

I hope they find this girl safe!! Can't imagine what the mother is going through...

57freebird · Sep. 10, 2010 8:59pm EST

Cannot believe it takes a week for the news to pick this up!

freetocee · Sep. 10, 2010 9:17pm EST

She's a troubled kid & I only hope she can find the right path before it's too lats & she winds up on meth like so many other Andersonians. I know this for a fact & am not trying to be funny.There's nothing funny about that stuff.My prayers will be with her.

ohtobeme9909 · Sep. 10, 2010 11:32pm EST

57freebird..you are so right! Why did it take so long to get this story out? It's not like anything big has been happening to take up the news! In all this time she has probably been kidnapped by human trafficing thugs! People think when they see those young prostitutes on the street that they are out there willingly but 90% are not! Their lives have been taken over by these pimps. In alot of cases they are just picked up of the streets and held a beaten into submission. Then they cant get away!

KensieBell · Sep. 11, 2010 12:58am EST

How come nobody tried to stop her when she was walking down the rail road tracks? In my opinion there should be more security for a group home in or not in public, you should have more than one staff at all times, espically on times like these. In my eyes staff is very weak & isnt doing there job! They say the group home is for troubled teens but yet in my opinion again i feel they just let the teens do what they please, i bet the staff member have no kind of experice with teens who hasnt had...

KensieBell · Sep. 11, 2010 1:08am EST

a good role, supervision & the kind of family values a child deserves. I wonder why it took this long for a staff or case worker to notify a parent they should had called immediately! Its just a wonder what the staff really does on their job if they really pay attention to the kids or talk, text, read, or teach the kids stuff they shouldnt be teaching! Or if the Executive Director even knows what is going on in the building, im sure that they have cameras. I think that it should be investigated.

KensieBell · Sep. 11, 2010 1:23am EST

What makes you think she ran away with "thugs" & prostituting? The mother dont need to try and make excuses for her daughter, there is a reason but no excuse for her running away she has her own mind set and every 16 year old boy or girl will do anything he / she is asked to keep the boyfriend or girlfriend thats not being emotional thats being a teenager she made the choice she will have to live with.

KensieBell · Sep. 11, 2010 1:35am EST

& another reason is because its a non-profit organization they dont get paid enough to deal with troubled teens that are emotional so thats why they let them sit on their butt & do what they please and its probably why more than half of them run away because they are probably bullied, convienced in to being in a gang, peer pressured, set up, and belittled. Trust me when i tell you this i have had previous experience.

Paul_Kersey · Sep. 11, 2010 9:54am EST

Whatever.....its the parents fault

sumgai · Sep. 11, 2010 10:24am EST

what sort of mother is this, slamming her kids on TV.... I think the mom's as messed up as her kid...

TracyBellHarris · Sep. 11, 2010 12:57pm EST

Why didnt someone try to stop her when they saw her walking down the railroad tracks? I blame that on the staff. I hope she is safe & finds her way back to where she belongs.

dmc04 · Sep. 11, 2010 8:52pm EST

Agreeing it's the parents fault. The mother was placing blame in the flippin video. She's probably had it up to here with the daughter, but she raised her. I'm hoping the 16 yr old called some friends, or is with friends watching it unfold on TV. That's the good scenario.

saluteasoldier · Sep. 12, 2010 7:55am EST

Really troubling that the mother blames New Foundations for her daughter's woes; I mean, after all, the daughter is in there for a REASON. However, this does not absolve New Foundations from their responsibilities as caregivers. It appears that whatever influence the girl received at home was simply being repeated; a non-profit agency that more than likely had underpaid, under qualified and over-stressed staff (and mother).

TK · Sep. 12, 2010 8:03am EST

I say at least the parent had the idea of putting the teen in a place to get help before the teen became of legal age and later ended up dead or on drugs etc.

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