Libba Phillips, founder of Outpost for Hope, has a sister who has been missing multiple times since the onset of bipolar disorder and substance abuse problems. Libba shared what she has learned while searching for her sister in a gripping workshop Treatment Advocacy Center attended at the NAMI 2010 annual convention July 2-4 in Washington DC.

Libba reported that there are an estimated 110,000 reported missing persons in the National Crime Information Center database maintained by the FBI and thousands more missing but not in any database or on the public’s radar screen. They are often unaccounted for due to estrangement from family and friends and often due to a reluctance of law enforcement to take reports on people who are “free” to be missing, homeless, and seriously mentally ill. The result of this is that thousands are victimized or killed because their vulnerability is exploited. In the 11 years since Libba Phillips launched a search for her sister, Outpost for Hope has trained family members, police officers, mental health advocates, and others to help locate loved ones who are in crisis, lost in the streets among the homeless. Libba’s own story and a downloadable copy of a Resource Guide to help families and others locate the lost may be found at www.outpostforhope.org.