omg - was her Mom a survivor of the camps in WWII? How old was Sylvia when she came to America?
BBM: (bolded by me) - I can see that this soft approach logic makes sense, in the beginning. --Many kids just took off during this period of time and parents were all acutely aware of it, too. So, the thinking was to give her an opportunity to return and not send in the cavalry and have it publicized all over town... Makes sense.
There must have been a point though where they realized this was not a temporary "I am running away from my life" turbulent time period... I am guessing this is when the private investigator was hired.