According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), state care has lost track of children under its guardianship in an increasingly alarming number over the years.
Most of these children were not reported missing until the enactment of federal legislation in 2014, which requires state agencies to report a lost or abducted child under their care within 24 hours of receiving the information.
In 2017, the center received more than 18,000 reports β a massive jump from 7,900 reports filed two years earlier.
Among those whose whereabouts have been unknown for a decade or longer, only about 150 have been found. Brittany Williams has been missing for 21 years.
Brittany Williams was born with AIDS. She went missing in 2000 from the now-defunct charity home called Rainbow Kids, Inc. in Richmond, VA.
When reports of her disappearance came through, authorities were worried she would end up dead because she neither had access to treatment nor medication for her condition.
More than two decades later, Kaylynn Stevenson makes headlines by claiming Brittany Williams with undeniable evidence: a certified DNA test taken at Labcorp.
10 /10 Presumed Dead
Kaylynn Stevenson of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has claimed that she has been all along with Brittany Renee Williams, the 7-year-old girl who disappeared in 2000 from an independent foster home in Henrico County, Virginia.
Brittany was being treated for AIDS when she went missing. Since her disappearance, her Medicaid insurance and Social Security Number have not been used to get the treatment and medication to sustain her life.
Following the unsuccessful search, authorities had no choice but to assume she was dead. In early October, Stevenson came forward with proof that she was the missing girl.
9 /10 Uncanny Resemblance
The 28-year-old woman from Indiana does appear to have an uncanny resemblance to photos of Brittany on missing child posters, including the pronounced cheekbones, smile, and other delicate features.
Although she doesn’t remember everything about her childhood, she recalls having a tube inserted into her and the scar to prove it.
Stevenson’s adoptive parents gave no information about her biological mother and father, but they once had her tested for AIDS, and it came back negative.
She has not been able to obtain her adoption document. Her birth certificate, however, doesn’t exactly match with Brittany’s.