Tacoma father and daughter live in Portland forest for 4 years

[The1calledTKE]

PORTLAND, ORE. - A man and his 12-year-old daughter spent the last four years living in a remote hillside in Portland's Forest Park, police said.
The pair was discovered in a dense, wooded area by an Australian cross-country runner and his wife.

They reported seeing an older man with white bushy hair and a beard, and a young girl at what appeared to be a "well-established transient camp." They called police on April 28.

That afternoon, North Precinct Sgt. Michael Barkley sent four officers on all-terrain vehicles to find the pair but they didn't find them.

"We had very little to go on, " Barkley said. "There's no way you could not do everything you could because it was a report of a child living up there."

The next morning, the runner escorted police to the site.

After an hour-and-a-half hike, police found an elaborate camp dug into a steep hillside.

Under a tarp-covered, wood-framed shelter, they found sleeping bags, a partially burnt log, a Bible, a stack of old World Book Encyclopedias, rakes and other tools.

for full article.. see http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=067497


I am glad that they let them stay together and didn't take the daughter away.

[AGDee]

What an awesome story!

[ISUKappa]

This was the only thing I didn't really like:

"What was so clear was that their living conditions were unacceptable, but their relationship was a real deep love and caring for each other," Barkley said.

According to our social standards today, they would seem unacceptable, but obviously if the girl and her father were clean, well-spoken and well-educated, in good physical and mental health with no illness and no cavities even I think they were doing just fine. Granted, they probably shouldn't have just camped out in a park, but still! I think it's pretty cool they survived that long by themselves.

ETA: There are people living in much worse conditions in big cities.

[CatStarESP4]

I am amazed that the girl is healthy, well educated (at a 12th grade level) and has no cavaties. I am also glad that the police officer was sympathetic and didn't take her away. The station set up a scholarship for her.