- A Baltimore mother is suing Baltimore City Schools after her 6-year-old son walked off school property undetected during after-school care.
- Little Liam crossed a busy road and was found inside a store — miles from school — before his mother was even notified.
- The family says they received no apology and no immediate call — and are now seeking damages for emotional distress and trauma therapy.
- The attorney says the school’s delayed notification was “damage control,” not child protection.
BALTIMORE, Maryland — Belinda Curry thought her 6-year-old son was safe in after-school care. He was not.
Liam, a first-grader at Fallstaff Elementary School, had quietly slipped out of the building without a single staff member noticing.
By the time anyone realized he was gone, Liam had already crossed busy Reisterstown Road — alone — and walked into a Five Below store at Reisterstown Plaza.
Curry only found out when the school called to tell her they had found him.
Not that he was missing. That he had already been found.
‘They Failed My Child’
Curry said Liam left the school during a transition period between activities — a moment when no one was watching closely enough.
For hours, she had no idea anything was wrong.
“All that time, Ms. Curry was under the impression that Liam was perfectly under control,” Curry said. “That he was doing what he did every day.”
When the call finally came, it was not a warning. It was not a search. It was a notification that her son had already been recovered.
“They did not do their due diligence,” Curry said. “They didn’t. They failed my child.”
The Call That Should Have Come First
Curry’s attorney, Thiru Vignarajah, says the delayed notification is at the heart of the lawsuit.
“She doesn’t know that he is missing until after he’s found,” Vignarajah said. “That is unacceptable.”
He argues the school’s priority was not finding Liam — it was managing the fallout.
“When a six-year-old goes missing, every minute counts,” Vignarajah said. “The school’s first call should have been to the mother, not to a lawyer or a PR person.”
He added that the delay was not an oversight — it was a strategy.
“It is not just about losing Liam, but the City’s failure to notify parents until after he was recovered,” Vignarajah said. “That is a strategy whose goal is damage control, not protecting the child.”
No Apology. No Accountability.
Curry has since moved Liam to a different school.
But nearly a year later, she says she has never received an apology from Fallstaff Elementary or Baltimore City Schools.
“It would have been nice to hear that adults are accountable,” she said.
“This ordeal has left me with an unthinkable sink in my heart,” Curry said.
The family is now seeking compensatory damages for the emotional distress caused by the incident — and for the ongoing therapy Liam requires to process what happened to him that day.
What This Means for Baltimore Parents
A 6-year-old crossing a major road alone while school staff had no idea he was gone raises serious questions about supervision standards in Baltimore City Schools.
If a child can walk out of a building unnoticed during after-school care, parents deserve to know — and deserve answers long before the school has had time to call anyone else first.
Did this story concern you as a parent? Share your thoughts in the comments — this conversation matters.
