2 teen sisters featured in ABC News report on overmedicated foster kids are missing after running away

Kayla and Brooke Ward were featured in a 2011 Diane Sawyer report.

ByABC News
January 17, 2018, 1:41 PM
Undated photos of Brooke Ward and Kayla Ward released by the Robertson County Sheriff's Office.
Undated photos of Brooke Ward and Kayla Ward released by the Robertson County Sheriff's Office.
Robertson County Sheriff's Office

— -- Tennessee authorities are searching for two teenage sisters who are missing and believed to have run away from home.

The Robertson County Sheriff's Office said Kayla Ward, 17, and Brooke Ward, 14, of Springfield, Tennessee, were last seen at their home on Highway 76 just outside of Springfield and are believed to have run away on Jan. 11.

Their mother, Lisa Ward, said she discovered her daughters were gone the following morning and found a goodbye note written in Brooke's handwriting on the window sill, that said in part, "just pray for me. I am going to find some place that will help me, the help I think I need and not your help."

"Please don’t come looking for me," the note continued. "They are be taking good care of me so don’t worry either I love you."

Law enforcement doesn't believe the teens are in imminent danger; however, their family fears they could end up as trafficking victims.

Brooke and Kayla were adopted by Ward and her husband Todd Ward in 2010. Their biological mother had a long history of drug abuse and prostitution and both girls suffer from reactive attachment disorder.

The sisters were featured in the Diane Sawyer "20/20" special report "Generation Meds" in 2011, about the overmedication of children in foster care. Brooke was at one point on 13 different psychotropic drugs.

"Kayla and Brooke suffered years of trauma and neglect, followed by five years in foster care. They have had many trauma struggles to overcome in their young lives," Lisa Ward told ABC News. "Please help us find our girls, to get them help for this time, and remind them they have a family now that loves them more than words. They don’t have to search for strangers to 'show them the way,' their family is here waiting to. No tip is too small, please share and be on the lookout for them. We won’t give up, please help us find them."

Lisa Ward told ABC News she wanted her daughters to know they are loved and cared for, and said she will "never give up" on them.

The Robertson County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information about the teenagers' whereabouts please contact local law enforcement or the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 615-382-6600.