Missing: Have you seen Max Brylski?

Tammy Brylski of Oshkosh wiped her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I miss him so much," she said between tears. "This is the hardest thing I've been through. ... I keep asking, 'What else can I be doing?'"

The mother of Max Brylski, 16, can't walk into her son's bedroom — it's too painful. How she manages to go to work these days, even she doesn't know.

Max, who will be a junior at Oshkosh West High School in the fall, has been missing since he ran away from shelter care June 6.

After the death of a friend last summer, combined with his parents' ongoing custody issues, Max's behavior started to change, Tammy Brylski said. The teen she described as a talented artist and musician, who is quiet but social and likes to go on walks and play video games, began hanging out with a new group of friends she didn't know who were making poor decisions.

"Why isn't there more support for ... teaching about coping skills for kids?" she said. "Even with my son, I could see it, 'cause he was so stressed out about school; and it's different from when we went to school, I think. I think there's so much more pressure."

Max's case is one of 104 reports of runaways the Oshkosh Police Department has received since January, though he remains the only person who has yet to be found. Department records show the number of runaway cases in the city has nearly doubled within the past year.

In 2013, 60 runaway complaints were filed from January to July. In the same time frame in 2014, there were 62.

Oshkosh Police Detective David Maas said some of those cases were repeat runaways, like Max, but that it's unusual for a child Max's age to be gone this long; most runaways return within a week or two.

Tammy reached out to resources for help with his behavior, and Max was put into shelter care June 4, a Thursday. She got a call at 10 a.m. June 6 from the shelter care staff, notifying her that Max had pushed out a window screen and ran away in the early morning hours.

He didn't take anything with him — no clothes, wallet or cell phone, and was wearing his last pair of contacts, she said. She learned through the grapevine that soon after leaving Max buzz-cut his shaggy brown hair and dyed it blond.

While Max was technically under the custody of the county when he ran, no one interviewed by Oshkosh Northwestern Media could say who became responsible for him once he ran.

Lacking help

Max does not qualify for an Amber Alert because he left voluntarily. Tammy could not report him missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — only police and social workers can do that, she was told.

The friends Tammy has known all of Max's life have been supportive and helpful during his disappearance. His new friends, however, have yet to respond to her calls and texts, she said, adding she thinks that's a sign of guilt.

"There's just wonderful friends," she said. "And there's the scary friends that I didn't know that were getting into bad things."

It took six weeks of Max being missing before the Oshkosh Police Department assigned a detective to the case.

For nearly two months, she's searched for him on her own and with friends, putting up posters from Oshkosh to Wild Rose and Fond du Lac and posting all over Facebook. They drive around Oshkosh looking under bridges, at parks and in neighborhoods. They created a Facebook page, Help Bring Max Brylski Home, as well.

While there have been rumors that Max was going to Colorado and Chicago, Maas thinks he is still in the area. He and Tammy think someone has to be helping Max stay on the run.

"He's got to be staying somewhere, getting help from somebody," she said. "He's a boy that showered almost every single day, and had a nice bedroom, food in the house — you can't just now live like a bum on the street."

The shelter care facility moved from Neenah to Oshkosh in March 2014. Maas and Leo Podoski, child welfare division manager, Winnebago County Human Services, said that could be the reason behind the spike in runaway reports. The runaway records do not differentiate between when youth run from residential homes and shelter care.

Shelter care is a non-secure facility on Harrison Street run by Lutheran Social Services under a contract with the county. Multiple calls to different level staff at the organization, inquiring about the facility and its procedure for when a child runs away, were either not returned or passed around to different staff members, all of whom said they were not authorized to talk about it.

Tammy said she has received little help from Winnebago County Human Services, under which the child welfare division falls.

Podoski said when a child who is placed there runs away, the staff call the police, parents and the social worker assigned to the case to notify them. The staff cannot physically restrain the child.

It's the responsibility of the county social worker to assist police in their investigation, calling around to family members, friends and passing along tips and leads, he said. They do not act as the "boots on the ground," rather, they stay in the office on Washington Street.

The social worker, whom Tammy and Maas said has Max's case, said he could not confirm he has the case, citing he is not authorized to talk about cases. The county juvenile intake worker could not be reached for comment, with staff saying he is currently on vacation.

Child welfare does not keep a record of the number of runaways from shelter care. Podoski had no knowledge of Max's case when he was interviewed by Oshkosh Northwestern Media last week, and said there aren't additional resources for finding him other than what's already being done.

Tammy is hopeful more tips will come in, and wants Max to know the situation can be fixed if he just comes home.

"I love you so much, and I'm missing you and I want you to come home," Tammy said. "We can work through this — I'm here."

— Reach Noell Dickmann at 920-426-6658 or ndickmann@thenorthwestern.com; or follow her on Twitter @ONW_Noell.

How to help:

Max Brylski, 16, is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. He has blue eyes and may have a blond, buzz-cut hairstyle.

If you see Max, call the Oshkosh Police Department at 920-236-5700.