4-Year-Old SC Boy Found In Woods Out Of Hospital, Placed With Aunt

A 4-year-old boy who was found on Christmas Eve morning after spending the night lost in the woods has been taken away from his parents pending the outcome of a state Department of Social Services investigation.

By WBTW-TV/SCNow.com
Published: December 29, 2009

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Florence, SC -- A 4-year-old boy who was found on Christmas Eve morning after spending the night lost in the woods has been taken away from his parents pending the outcome of a state Department of Social Services investigation.

The boy’s father, Manley McGee, of Coward, said Tray McGee was still in the hospital when DSS workers called and said he would be taken away from the home.

Social workers said the boy could be placed with a family member or in a foster home in Darlington, Manley said.

“ ... if I put him in foster care, I wouldn’t know where he was and I would only get to see him for a couple of hours a month and the social worker would have to meet us somewhere,” he said.

That’s why he allowed DSS to place the boy with his aunt, Manley said.

“I feel like it’s a little drastic what they done ... I guess they know how to do their job,” he said. “I know my sister will never hurt him, I know that."

DSS will decide whether the boy will be returned to his parents once social workers have completed a 45-investigation into the matter, Manley said.

Martha Stone, his great-grandmother, said Monday that the boy is happy and is riding his new four wheeler at his aunt’s house.

Tray loves both of his parents very much and was likely looking for his father when he wandered away from his maternal grandfather’s home in Scranton on Wednesday evening, Manley said.

“He has gotten lost before, and they always found him. He was probably hunting (for) me,” he said.

The boy was conscious and alert when he was found around 10:05 a.m. sitting beside a tree off North Matthews Road, Florence County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Nunn said. The spot where he was found is close to where he lives, Stone said.

He was taken to McLeod Regional Medical Center to be evaluated.

In a letter to the editor sent to the 'Lake City News & Post', the boy’s family said they “would like to thank everyone for the search and finding of Tray, especially Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone and Kenney’s well-trained law enforcement force.”

“But most of all, we thank God Tray is doing well, but he still needs your prayers,” the family wrote in the letter. “Keep praying and thanking God for this miracle.”