A last resort: Families turn to private contractors to help children lost to the street
LOS ANGELES — Sherry Hill had lost track of her daughter, which wasn't a surprise. She lived on the street and was so caught up in cycles of mental illness and addiction that she didn't care that she could have a better life.
The younger woman's father had died two years ago and left her with more than enough money for housing and support.
Hill and her second husband, Mel, were now administrators of the trust, and they needed to contact her. But the couple were in their 70s, living near Fresno, and in no position to start searching.
They called the police in Pasadena and filed a missing person report, but when the officers found her, Hill recalled, they said there wasn't anything they could do. Her daughter, who was 52, had a right to be left alone, to be homeless if she wanted, and didn't warrant a psychiatric hold.
Frustrated, Hill made a call that she wished wasn't necessary. It was her last resort.
Vicki Lucas answered.
Part private investigator, part street clinician, Lucas makes her living helping families reconnect with loved ones lost to homelessness, mental illness or drugs. The job means searching the streets while coordinating treatment options with mental health teams, psychiatrists and residential facilities.
She calls herself a crisis interventionist, and her clients are often parents like Hill, frustrated by the inability of California's behavioral health
