Was Relisha Rudd's disappearance unpreventable?
Through The Cracks: Was Relisha Rudd's Disappearance Unpreventable? : 1A In 2014, 8-year-old Relisha Rudd disappeared from the Washington, D.C. homeless shelter where she lived. She was only officially declared missing after she hadn't been seen for 18 days. She hasn't been found.
How do I contact Relisha Rudd?
If you’d like to assist or donate in searching for those persons of color who go missing, please go to Black and Missing Inc. If you have any information on Relisha Rudd’s case, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or your local FBI office.
Where did Relisha live before she became homeless?
Before Relisha moved into a homeless shelter, her family lived together in an apartment near Congress Heights. But a chain of events led them to landlord-tenant court, and ultimately on the street. In this episode: Jonquilyn Hill explores how Relisha lost her home and wound up in a shelter in the most 'tenant-friendly' city in the country.
Episode Summary
This week we bring you two mysterious disappearances. Why did it take 18 days for people to notice 8-year-old Relisha Rudd was missing? And how did 24-year-old Unique Harris vanish from her apartment without the glasses that were critical to helping her see? Please join us in supporting blackandmissinginc.com.
Relisha Rudd
If you have any information on Relisha Rudd’s case, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or your local FBI office. Submit a tip anonymously here.
Unique Harris
If you have any information on Unique’s case, please contact Detective Fulton at 202-497-3470. You can also help directly by donating to Unique’s Go Fund Me page set up by her mom, Valencia.
Where was Relisha Rudd in the cracks?
Through The Cracks In 2014, a second grader named Relisha Rudd disappeared from a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C. where she had been living with her family. By the time the city formally declared Relisha "missing," 18 days had passed since the last time she'd been seen at school or in the shelter. Relisha has never been found.
How old was Relisha Rudd when she disappeared?
When she disappeared in 2014, 8-year-old Relisha Rudd was living with her family at a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., where a number of people shared responsibility for her. Before she vanished, each one of her family members had already fallen through the cracks in one way or another.
How long has Relisha been missing?
By the time the city formally declared Relisha "missing," 18 days had passed since the last time she'd been seen at school or in the shelter. Relisha has never been found.
When was Relisha last seen?
The timeline provided by Through the Cracks indicates that Relisha was last seen on March 1, 2014 at a Days Inn with Tatum on video. (Police told the Post that she had been with him since February 26.)
How long has Relisha been missing?
By the time Relisha was declared missing, it had been 18 days since she was last seen at Payne Elementary School or the DC General shelter where her family resided, according to the podcast.
How many absences did Relisha have?
[1] According to the Washington Post, on March 13, Relisha had 10 absences and the school called CFSA.
How many times was Relisha's mother reported to the child abuse hotline?
In fact, she reported that Relisha’s mother Shameka Young was reported three times to the child abuse hotline–in 2007, 2010, and 2013. Hill noted that in none of those cases did the agency elect to remove any of her children, and she devoted some time to discussing that fact.
What agency was involved in the case of Relisha?
Unnamed “sources” told NBC News that “D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) had an active case working when Relisha went missing, along with three prior cases dating back to 2007.” (A reporter can actually be heard reporting this story in the background of the podcast.)
What is the podcast through the cracks about?
WAMU’s new podcast series, Through the Cracks, has just completed its first season, which focused on the disappearance of eight-year-old Relisha Rudd from the DC General family shelter in 2014. The podcast presents a compelling picture of how multiple generations of untreated trauma, combined with an inadequate social safety net, makes such tragedies possible. However, the podcast falls short in its effort to document the systemic failures leading to Relisha’s disappearance. Specifically, it draws an incomplete picture of the failure of DC’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) to keep Relisha safe despite an open case on the family.
Why did the CFSA refuse to comment on Relisha's case?
CFSA refused to comment on Relisha’s case because it would violate the family’s privacy–the same response they give when asked about any individual case. But at least the podcast staff could have done a bit of digging, searching for someone who has left the agency since 2014 and might be willing to talk.
