My daughter suffered from severe mental illness. Her mother had no ability to keep her and the state of California had laws that protected her from being committed involuntarily. So she disappeared into the streets. I came out west to find her.

I cannot tell you how many days I spent wandering through the side canyons, back alleys and homeless camps looking for her. I got to know the homeless and the way to live. Most suffered from some sort of mental illness, some drugs, others just plumb out of luck.

America offers no safety net for any of them. There is no way to commit the mentally ill to a proper facilities and no one cares when a family loses home when jobs evaporate.

I finally found my daughter, or she was found trying to have a baby in a laundromat. The baby survived and she was finally committed to mental treatment by the state. Seems that the one thing that will get the states attention is having a baby on the street.