Outpost for Hope's founder Libba Phillips coined the term 'The Kids off The Grid' to define the most vulnerable, and most hidden population of unreported as missing lost children. Her eleven years of research shows the following:

Who Is a Kid off the Grid?

• An adolescent or teenager who may be homeless or otherwise lost and is not officially listed as missing with law enforcement or in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.

• A child missing from foster care who may not be officially listed as missing with any law enforcement agency or in the NCIC system.

• A child who is a runaway or has been abandoned/neglected who may not be officially listed as missing with any law enforcement agency or in the NCIC system.

• An illegal immigrant child or adult in the U.S. who disappears or is otherwise unaccounted for who may not be officially listed as missing with any law enforcement agency in the NCIC system.

• An unaccounted for infant or child whose parent may be an unreported lost teenager or at risk adult.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The most vulnerable, most at risk and most invisible population of Kids off the Grid are unaccounted for infants and children of unreported lost teens and adults. Children of drug addicted and/or mentally ill parents who are estranged from appropriate caregivers are at the highest risk of exploitation and harm and have the lowest chance of being acknowledged by the general public. Predators are counting on you not to notice. Libba Phillips, Outpost for Hope

• 30% of shelter youth and 70% of street youth are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Estes & Weiner

• 23% of homeless teens are pregnant teenage girls (*WYS)

• 93% are using drugs and alcohol on a regular basis (*WYS)

• 65% battle clinical depression and/or mental health issues (*Wind Youth Services)

Consider the harsh realities faced by women and teenage girls on the streets who are not listed as "missing" with any law enforcement agency. As well as for the unaccounted for child who may be with a drug addicted and mentally ill mother. Predators and serial killers count on you not to pay attention because marginalized women, teenage girls, and their children are the easiest prey for those who know they may not be missed.

For example, in 2004, Gary Leon Ridgeway, known as The Green River Killer, confessed to murdering 48 teenage girls and women over two decades. "I picked them as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed," Ridgeway said, according to an Associated Press report. "I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked them because I thought I could kill as many as I wanted without getting caught." Several of Ridgeway's victims still remain as unidentified Jane Does today. Each and every one of these women were someone's daughter, mother, sister or friend.