An Albany teen has returned home, 21 days after he was first reported missing.

Jake Sunderland, a representative for the Department of Human Services, confirmed that Doug Faoa, 16, had been found safe. He said he could not confirm where the teen had been found. Faoa had disappeared from a treatment facility in Clackamas County on Oct. 10.

OPB first reported that Faoa was found on Thursday afternoon. Faoa’s foster mother, Carol Palmer, told the news organization that she heard her foster son was in Newport, and she went to pick him up. She said they were back home in Albany around 3 p.m.

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office told The Oregonian/OregonLive that Faoa was found in Newport in the care of a family member.

Palmer did not immediately return requests for comment. The Sheriff’s Office said Faoa was now in DHS care.

Faoa left Palmer’s home, where he had lived for the past three years, on Oct. 10. He was supposed to spend 90 days at the Inn Home for Boys, a treatment facility in Happy Valley that often hosts foster care youth.

Palmer told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Oct. 22 that after Faoa arrived at the facility, he told staff he was going to take a walk to Clackamas Town Center, about two miles away. But Faoa never returned from his walk.

Palmer said she was frustrated with the lack of media and police attention to Faoa’s disappearance. The case received little publicity until Oregon State Sen. Sara Gelser, who represents Palmer’s district, began advocating for him. Gelser said she thought state privacy laws that were supposed to protect foster children like Faoa were actually hindering awareness about his disappearance.

“DHS in general cannot release any information about a foster youth, including that the foster youth is in fact in foster care,” Gelser said. The laws make it difficult for the agency to even share details about a missing foster youth with the public.

—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

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