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Boy, 4, Disappears From Foster Home : Missing: Officials fear the child may have been taken out of the country by his biological parents. His father is a Jordanian national.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A 4-year-old boy disappeared from his foster home and may have been taken out of the country by his biological parents, sheriff’s officials said Sunday.

Taj Yaser Jayyusi was last seen at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Authorities are looking for his biological parents, Yaser Majed, 55, and Deborah Ann Jayyusi, 35, for questioning, Lt. Dan Martini said.

Because the parents moved from their Anaheim home about the time Taj disappeared and because the father is a Jordanian national, deputies suspect Taj may be out of the country, Martini said. A court hearing to terminate parental rights had been scheduled for Wednesday.

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The boy’s foster mother, Susan White, who had started adoption proceedings, said Sunday that Taj has a sister in another foster home in Orange County.

“That’s my only hope that he hasn’t been taken away to another country, that (the parents) would not abandon their daughter,” White said.

Investigators refused to discuss even the existence of the sister, but White said she had been told that the girl is safe.

White said she left Taj alone in her garage-turned-playroom Saturday morning while she took a shower. The garage door was open less than a foot. When she returned 15 minutes later, he had disappeared.

“I searched everywhere in the neighborhood, but I knew immediately that it was foul play,” said White, 43. “Taj is not a roamer; he’s afraid to go far away from home.”

White said Taj is on medication for an attention-deficit disorder and suffers from chronic ear infections. If he is without his medication long, the child becomes hyperactive and “difficult to control,” she said.

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Taj, who has been a foster child for two years, has lived with White since August. His parents were allowed court-monitored visitations weekly, she said.

White, who is single, said she and Taj had developed a mother and son relationship, and she had started adoption proceedings.

Martini declined to discuss why the 4-year-old had been placed in foster care.

On Sunday, White’s two-bedroom condominium was full of neighbors and family who had come with food, condolences and offers to help. A $10,000 reward is offered to anyone with information on the whereabouts of Taj, White said.

“We were a twosome, we did everything together,” White said. “He keeps saying to me, ‘I’m going to live with you forever.’ ”

Taj is 3 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 45 pounds. He has fair skin, blond hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing black and white gym shoes with Velcro closures, dark blue corduroy pants and a turtleneck shirt with vertical stripes in dark blue, gold, orange and red.

His parents drive a white 1980 Oldsmobile, California license plate number 398ZIJ.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at (714) 647-1832.

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