GM advice needed - Reality check this backstory for me, please?

[CeeDub]

Salutations!

How would the authorities (most likely a small-town sheriff to begin with) handle a girl of about 13 years of age wandering about aimlessly in a rural area? She is not reported as a missing person, has no identification, matches no government record (but is not Zeroed), is in good health without any signs of having been abused, but seems lost and depressed. The girl does not speak or understand English or any other known language, and seems bewildered by most things we would accept as completely normal. Yup, she's an alien. The girl does not display any overt superhuman abilities... at least until someone tries to take a blood sample.

For simplicity's sake, let's assume the setting is the United States in our world and in the present. If it matters, assume the state you have the most expertise in.

• Deportation is probably out, because they don't know her country of origin. AFAIK they can't / won't deport anyone to a random country.
• Would the local police inform social services, who would try to determine what language the girl speaks and, failing that, place her in foster care and English for Foreigners classes? Would she be assigned a social security number? If so, is that tantamount to a work permit (when she is old enough)?
• Would she be held indefinitely at one of those detention centers for suspected illegal immigrants that were all over the news not too long ago?
• Would she be sent to a psychiatric facility for observation / assessment?
• Something else?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

"Not matching government records" is going to be odd, sure, but it's not like we've got centralized databases of 13-year-olds. There'll likely be an ongoing search of missing persons reports, none of which will pan out.

After medical and psych evaluations (institutionalization is unlikely unless she's violent), it's remotely possible that she might be sent to a concentration camp, but unless she's very near a border, where it'd be more plausible that she recently crossed over illegally, or the sheriff is personally convinced that she's in the US illegally and calls up La Migra, she'd much more likely go through social services and eventually to a foster family.

There's no clear path from there. She certainly wouldn't be issued a Social Security number as a matter of course. They aren't proactively assigned by the government. Rather, one has to apply for it (or a parent can apply for minors) and present some fairly standard documentation like a birth certificate, which she doesn't have.

A lot is going to turn on what she says once she does learn English. As a minor, there's going to be several years where she'll be a ward of the state and have the time to come up to speed on the language. At that point the question becomes what does she tell people, and whether or not they believe her.

[Fred Brackin]

To amplify and add some detal to what TBC said an apparent minor in a rural area of the US will be reported to the county Sherriff's office who will send a deputy (the Sherriff himself heads a county-wide office with both civil and criminal responisilities, Don't think Andy of Mayberry and Barney Fife).

When the Deputy finds the minor she will be taken to a local hospital to be examined and that blood test you think will find something odd is almost certain.

The Federal I.C.E. agency gets notified sometime but location and other factors heavily influence assumptions of illegal imigration. I'd suspect human trafficking as being at least as likely as anyhting else.

When/If the hospital releases her social services gets her and does whatever the state regs say. Somebody will be responsible for feeding and taking care of her. Some education is likely but it might be special ed rather than mainstreaming.

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

To amplify and add some detal to what TBC said an apparent minor in a rural area of the US will be reported to the county Sherriff's office who will send a deputy (the Sherriff himself heads a county-wide office with both civil and criminal responisilities, Don't think Andy of Mayberry and Barney Fife).

When the Deputy finds the minor she will be taken to a local hospital to be examined and that blood test you think will find something odd is almost certain.

The Federal I.C.E. agency gets notified sometime but location and other factors heavily influence assumptions of illegal imigration. I'd suspect human trafficking as being at least as likely as anyhting else.

When/If the hospital releases her social services gets her and does whatever the state regs say. Somebody will be responsible for feeding and taking care of her. Some education is likely but it might be special ed rather than mainstreaming.

I believe in todays world one of the first things they will suspect when they find her is human trafficking of some variety. No one is getting deported till they identify her, and no one will get sent to any "detention center" if they cant identify the language.

My experience is almost completely Rural. I would say big cities is actually a more likely place for someone like this to fall through these cracks. Out in BFE people arent so overwhelmed by person interactions, so they are much more likely to take a personal interest, they may not have time/money but they arent going to forget her.

Maybe have her be/appear a touch older 15-16 so they dont treat her as someone that cant give informed consent, and they might be less inclined to draw blood/DNA without a reason or her informed consent. Have her be mute till she picks up enough local language to start communicating. This would for sure involve some psyc visits, but as long as she shows normal(ish) human behavior and isnt violent she might slip into the system as a Jane Do. Once she starts evidencing use of the local language it might just get forgotten as she ages out of the system (but this is one spot where they would probably also try to establish her age via blood/DNA)

Protocol would dictate a hospital visit to check for abuse (sexual and otherwise) but I agree that pictures, finger prints, DNA swab and blood work would probably be in the cards. Don't forget that a DNA swab from the mouth is easy and noninvasive, and people do then at home today.

I dont think this little girl is just going to slip into the system without people noticing the language and trying to take steps to locate some variety of adult guardian. I suppose there is a confluence of events involving one or more people that knowingly circumvent the rules, but I feel like the language thing is going to be a key for any govt agency that comes into contact with her. Even if its a small county there is going to be 4-5 people that will have contact with her and several of them are going to get curious about that language. Someone(s) make a video and send it to a university friend blah blah blah viral video and your secrets out.

If your intention is for her to be an unknown "sleeper", I think your just going to have to rule it on your own. IMO I dont think reality today will back it up. 20-30 years ago you might have gotten away with it in some more quiet remote/removed areas, but even today they have rules they have to follow so there really isn't any of this "Kindly couple finds her and just asks to keep her". The days of lets just give her to someone so we dont have to deal with her are

[CeeDub]

Thank you both very much, that is extremely helpful!

[CeeDub]

Thank you, too, bocephus. This is very detailed.

Originally Posted by bocephus

Maybe have her be/appear a touch older 15-16 so they dont treat her as someone that cant give informed consent, and they might be less inclined to draw blood/DNA without a reason or her informed consent.

Good point. I will suggest making her taller than average.

Originally Posted by bocephus

Protocol would dictate a hospital visit to check for abuse (sexual and otherwise) but I agree that pictures, finger prints, DNA swab and blood work would probably be in the cards. Don't forget that a DNA swab from the mouth is easy and noninvasive, and people do then at home today.

Well, a DNA swab is probably fine, AFAIK they take weeks to produce results. How likely would the lab techs be to assume a contaminated sample instead of sounding the "aliens among us" alarm?

Originally Posted by bocephus

I feel like the language thing is going to be a key for any govt agency that comes into contact with her. Even if its a small county there is going to be 4-5 people that will have contact with her and several of them are going to get curious about that language. Someone(s) make a video and send it to a university friend blah blah blah viral video and your secrets out.

I'm not sure that no one being able to identify the language will make people jump to that conclusion. Occam's Razor would dictate that it's more likely she speaks a made-up language or even gibberish (although I suspect a linguist might be able to tell the difference between a conlang and nonsense).

Originally Posted by bocephus

If your intention is for her to be an unknown "sleeper"

No, she is going to run away at some point and become a drifter. By that time it won't matter if the authorities figure out that she is an alien, for unrelated reasons. I was mostly wondering about whether it is likely that she would not immediately be shipped off to Area 51, and if indeed not, what kind of help she might receive until she quits the system and how long it will likely take the government to catch on.

So, without ID or birth certificate, she will probably be limited to cash-only transactions and illegal employment, correct? I suppose that translates to Social Stigma: Minor until she is 18, and then that converts neatly to Social Stigma: Criminal Record (not literally, but the effects as described are pretty much the same) for the same point value?

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by CeeDub

Well, a DNA swab is probably fine, AFAIK they take weeks to produce results. How likely would the lab techs be to assume a contaminated sample instead of sounding the "aliens among us" alarm?

IIRC there is a panel of common human alleles that they run a sample against where there is nothing else to compare a DNA fingerprint to - and she would probably be run against databases of DNA for criminals and missing persons (and probably the US armed forces database as well just for fun) … I'm not sure how good the automated systems are at noticing that the DNA they are checking has no common factors at all, but presumably there must be some way of telling human DNA from non-human. I would guess that's what the common alleles panel is for … if none of them match, I would guess the first response is to re-sample and re-test. The next will likely be huge curiosity.

And as someone has already said, blood samples are a pretty routine part of health screening. Possibly more so than urinalysis if they can't communicate easily, but anyone found wandering and unable to communicate is going to get checked for drugs as well as any general health checks.

[khorboth]

Another thing to keep in mind about rural areas is that an event like this would be NEWS. There will be a local newspaper. People in the area will read that newspaper. The person who runs that paper will have a police scanner so that they can keep up to date on the column which prints EVERY 911 call and the results thereof. This would be pretty overwhelming in a city, but in rural areas is a standard way of filling paper.

When this call came through, the reporter would probably make sure to get out and get details from their friend in the sheriff's office (Almost a given). Odds are high that this girl's picture would be on the front page of the local paper. "Do you know this girl?" "Mystery teen needs identification" or something of the like.

Then, rural folk would talk about it. A lot. She would be locally recognizable as "That lost girl" within a few days.

[Aldric]

Unless that blood sample ends up being fluorescent green or something equally strange, then I don't know who'll get there faster, CDC or Military.

[CeeDub]

Originally Posted by Aldric

Unless that blood sample ends up being fluorescent green or something equally strange, then I don't know who'll get there faster, CDC or Military.

Do I read this right, if it's NOT fluorescent it will summon the CDC faster than if it is?