As we found out here, a missing child is not always treated as missing. If they are considered a runaway, the LEO won't file much of anything.We are attending the funeral of a "runaway" on Friday.
I can see where what you're saying could apply to older "kids" (18 or older...or maybe even a bit younger) but these kids don't look any older than 8 or 10.
It's hard for me to imagine how *someone* didn't report these kids as being missing.I also can't imagine how such a report wouldn't cause the local (or state) police to immediately swing into action.