How come I haven't heard of this problem before?

Since 1999, we have been working to define this problem and raise awareness about 'the missing, missing' and the 'kids off the grid'. The real life story behind Outpost for Hope began with the search for Ashley Phillips over twenty years ago. It took her family almost four years to obtain an official missing persons report - this was what led founder Libba Phillips to uncover that there were thousands of other 'missing, missing' persons as she searched for an agency to help. She met with many other families, law enforcement agencies, forensic experts, coroners, as well as searching the streets, homeless shelters, and morgues. What began as a personal quest soon became a movement to shine the light on this hidden population. Libba discovered that the stigma of mental illness and addiction, which may have prevented the official missing persons report on her sister to be filed the year Ashley went missing, also occurs in our general society.