all three of the young people have bright futures. tempered by expectations of what might happen in the months ahead. on"america tonight", the 50th anniversary of "the sound of music." meet the family that inspired the hit film. >> the movie, obviously thrust your family into the limelight. what parallels between the movie and your family are real? >> the main theme of the film is accurate. and pick out a few inaccuracies

and correct them this old hospital building was home to 8-year-old relisha. >> her kidnapping shed light. >> we failed in our responsibilities to this child. thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. here in the nation's capital city we connect most often with power, and the powerful. we are reminded of our vulnerable citizens, the ones our leaders are supposed to protect, children. homeless children. it's been a year since that video was recorded. the last view of relisha rudd, a homeless child walking away with a man she thought was a friend. the mystery of her disappearance and the back story is a sharp indictment of this power city. lori jane gliha has been investigating the last steps

before relisha rudd became a little girl lost. >> reporter: this old hospital building was one home for relisha and her mother. >> it's a mess, to be honest with you. unfortunately. >> reporter: how many people were packed in your room? >> there was six of us. >> reporter: in 2013 the family was among 300 others living at d.c. general, washington's largest family homeless shelter. at the time it housed nearly 600 children. it's a stone throw from a drug rehab center and a city gaol, not on ideal place for kids, says jamilla, who runs an independent play programme for homeless children. >> they go through security to get into the shelter, they eat in a cafeteria. it's institutional. it pay be loud, chaotic, different from the privacy of

their own home. it's a stressful place for children and families to be. >> reporter: jim gram is the former head of d.c.'s homeless services committee charged with the oversight of the shelter. >> there's families that let them down. takes two hands to clap. i am sure family members were clapping, bearing part of their responsibility. there was a responsibility by the d.c. government not met. >> reporter: after relisha went missing he held hearings. >> there's a lot involved, but the bottom line is we failed. >> reporter: he found incident reports and four staff members fired for inappropriate relationships with residents. >> when are we going close this thing. the former director said d.c. secretary-general is dead. >> i made it clearly the end of

september the mayor would have a plan from my office to close d.c. general. >> reporter: it culminated in a promise to shut the shelter. a year later, it is still open, home to 200 families. >> there were rats, roaches. things like toilet tissue and soap - they run out a lot. and just the overall feel. you feel like you are more like a halfway house. >> tameika small lived at d.c. general for a few months after the house she rented foreclosed much she said d.c. general was dirty and cramped. these are pictures of her children in the room, packed with six beds. >> for the young children it's harder. there's a bunch of children running around, hollering and screaming. if you didn't have to do it, i would wish it on my worst enemy.

>> reporter: in one of the nation's wealthiest cities, 30% of children live below the poverty line. >> i think we had an explosion in family homelessness, and the major issue is the economy. if poor, poor families are no city. >> reporter: much of that is due to a lack of affordable housing. instruction of luxury units with higher rents is pushing thousands of people into the shelters and overflow hotels. small and her children are among them. she lives in a city paid-for hotel with her family. >> you have new buyers coming in, fixing up your great-grandmother's home. it's too expensive for you to move in. the economy and prices to go up - where i could get a place for $500.

that neighbourhood is $4,000. >> reporter: multiple d.c. mayors vowed to end homelessness. after relisha disappeared, former mayor promised to find new homes for 500 shelter families. the city moved fewer than 200 families by the deadline. now the mayor is pledging to end homelessness by 2025. >> can you tell me why anyone in the community would have faith that this would work when many tried to fix homelessness in dr. >> we know it's a tough issue, it's incumbent on me, me who is not quite 40 days in office, to look at programmes that worked and make them better. >> are you confident that kids today are safer than they were a missing.

>> i don't think any of us can be happy when we have a large facility when families are living. d.c. general was built as a hospital. as such, it is not the optimal environment to raise families. >> but are they safer. >> i've answered your question. >> it's not safer this year than last year. >> what do we take? a wrap around services of the type that would cost more than now. >> a quick question about relisha rudd. >> thank you. >> she has to go. >> reporter: we wanted to see first hand what kind of place it is for a child. we've asked to get in but city officials walked away from us. we want to get in to d.c. general to see it, i want to know what recommendations will be put in place. >> i'll follow up. >> reporter: are you sure because... ..the city is yet to answer

questions or let us in. though the process is slow, d.c. general has seen improvement sense relisha rudd disappeared. there's two more security guards, an attendance protocol and a playground making the shelter more child friendly. >> her abduction shed light on the population of children at d.c. general. it compelled d.c. to realise that there's a small city of children living here without access to a safe place to play like others in the city have. lancs to relisha, the children have that playgrouped. >> how sad is it that you are sitting here saying thanks to playground. >> it's heart breaking. this is not a problem unique to d.c., one in 30 children experience homelessness in any given year. >> relisha rudd's disappearance is a sad example of what it

takes, steams, to galvanise public -- sometimes to galvanise public opinion. the whole outlook changes. >> reporter: but maybe say the changes scratch the surface. >> i don't know anyone that things d.c. general is a great place. it's a matter of community will. let's integrate families into the community into smaller apartment based shelters. >> the biggest fear, not enough has been done to keep a childlike relisha rudd from slipping through the cracks. lori jane gliha here, this is an abomination, a city of that power, the resources that are here - that so many systems seem to have failed her. >> yes, that is what is disturbing. there's so many things in place, government and fam illial systems. she was living in a homeless shelter, allowed to hang out

with a janitor at the homeless shelter, against the policy. there's layers in place failing relisha rudd from the time she messed school to no one noticing, making it upsetting when there's things in place to protect children like her, and none worked. >> you referred to the explosion of homelessness in this city. this is an ongoing problem that the city has for decades has been talked about - for decades. is it really something that cannot be fixed? >> that is what is baffling. here we are in one of the wealthiest stay, mayor after mayor, government after government have been eliminated the problem. d.c. general was an emergency shelter and here it is hosing families, there's no plan to close it. it is the goal of many in the government and community. the new major has a plan, or hopes that her plan works,

waningwan wanting to end family homelessness. and homelessness. she's bringing home staff members to link homeless families with available housing. it's a lofty goal. >> tomorrow you'll continue with the investigation. you have delved deep here, talking to folks even the press have not engaged. >> there's a lot in the community supportive of the search four rudd. some are citizen detectives. >> doing their own work. >> their own interviews, research, searches, make bringing in police dogs. we'll delve into the investigation, and sit with her mother and answer important questions about what happened the day she went missing. >> "america tonight"s lori jane gliha. thanks "america tonight" exposes new details in the search for relisha rudd in a special report

on friday. lori jane gliha with a lead even the police haven't followed. and tough questions for the girl's family. >> reporter: when you found out relisha went missing, did you call the police? >> didn't i say when i found she went missing, i couldn't thing? >> reporter: why didn't you call the police? "america tonight" investigates the search for relisha friday on "america tonight". next - another young life at risk. her tweets told the world about her life upped fire. community. >> and hot on "america tonight" - a super-bug outbreak spreading in hospital. could health officials have done something to stop a killer. find out on "america tonight".

in our fast-forward segment, growing up gaza girl. she is like every other teenager, growing up worrying about college. her tweets became a link to the world as bombs fell on her community: she tried to comfort her 6-year-old sister. he shelling continued through the nights. her tweets went viral. a minute by minute diary of a war. >> and i saw that many newspapers, and many things talked about missiles, that encouraged me.

>> here father, a doctor at hospital, comes home with stories of wounded and dead. >> he says that he can't stand seeing people - that he sees blood. some of them are burnt. he says that he has to travel to enjoy his life after seeing what he sees. her life, like that of her conflict. >> this is my third war i have witnessed. this is the worst. >> as the bombs continue to drop, farah is keeping her eyes on one goal. >> i want to be a lawyer. because i want to bring some of our life back fast-forward 6 months later, she tells us the neighbourhood

is in ruins, but $5.4 billion has been pledged. only 5% has come in. she has more than 185,000 twitter followers. plans to graduate highly, study law and help other gazan. >> next - a few of our favourite things. 16 going on 17, edelweisse. you know the words, get the real story from "the sound of music", from the baron and maria's >> these people have decided that today they will be arrested >> i know that i'm being surveilled >> people are not getting the care that they need >> this is a crime against humanity >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> hands up! >> don't shoot! >> what do we want? justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> they are running towards base... >>...explosions going off we're not quite sure... >> fault lines al jazeera america's award winning, investigative series...

on al jazeera america

no one can resist singing along. "edelweiss" "claim every mountain", and lady gaga tamed her act to honour the 50th anniversary of "the sound of

music." we thing we know the story - singing nun, escape from nazis, but the true tale is the one we learn from the youngest of the baron and maria's children as he spoke to adam may. ♪ the hills are alive ♪ ♪ with the sound of music... >> reporter: "the sound of music" is one of the most popular highest grossing films of all time. the 1965 movie won five academy awards including best picture. it's a movie almost everyone can sing along to, and some parts of of the story are even true. johannsa von trapp, the younger son of the baron and maria sat with "america tonight". has there been a struggle with the movie that you don't want is to be about the movie, but your real family? >> no, buts for the first 26

years of my life it wasn't about the movie, it was about my family. with we were well known among people that liked barr okay -- baroche music. "the sound of music" was one of five filesms aye loud to be -- allowed to be shown in communist china. johannes was one of three that the baron and marie had together. not just the seven from the film, making 10. what parallels between your real life and the movie are real? >> i think it's easier to say that the main theme of the film is accurate, and then peck out a few accuracies and correct them. one is the time frame. my mother and father were

married in 1927. hitler invaded austria in 1938. there were 11 years there that went up in smoke in the movie. >> reporter: in the movie sister maria introduces the von trapp children to music. in real life, the von trapp family was singing long before maria arrived as their governess. first they sang for fun, then for necessity. >> there's a missing character in the film, father france vosner, our conductor, living was. he was the musical director. when thi father losts -- my father lost his money in 1936, he went broke. we sang to earn a living. them. >> reporter: in the movie the family used their performance before a nazi audience as a

trick to escape. in real live the baron wouldn't let the children sing for the nazis. in real life, they didn't do this, they took a train to italy on to america, where they continued to sing. what did that do with your bond to your siblings? >> we were very close, yet we fault as much as you might expect with normal families. >> was it tough, getting up on stage and everyone had to smile. >> the art stopped the moment the curtain went up and the smiles came on, and if you had a cold you didn't cough, you did not snifl, the show must go op and it did. >> baron von trapp was distainful having his family sing for their supper. it was passed on. >> it came from the reality of growing up in an

aristocratic household where one didn't talk about money. it wasn't done. i remember laying out a business scheme and a sister looking at me and saying "but we would only be doing that to make money." i said "yes, that's the idea." >> reporter: in america, out of financial necessity, the family turned their private home in vermont into a ski lodge, an alpine reminder of the austrian home they left behind. >> i had seven sisters. there was a lot of people visiting. friends began asking if friends of theirs could come, because they wanted to ski and they started paying. one day we woke up and realised we were really running an inn. >> reporter: do some come here seeking that inspiration, that feeling they have from watching the movie? >> it's not unusual for people

to be disappointed if the children are not lined up. film. >> reporter: time has gone on. >> yes. >> reporter: do you remember watching the film for the first time? >> i do, indeed. i was in basic training at fort dix. i was able to get a friend to sleep in my bunk and cover for my absence. >> reporter: you went awol to see the movie. >> that's right. checked into a hotel. they brought civilian clothes and i was out the army for a little while. >> reporter: he remembers how reality was in contention with real life. agatha was quiet, intro spected almost inhible itted person. when we saw the film and the song and dance routine that leisel and the telegraph boy do,

we rolled in the aisles at the agatha. >> reporter: holding the family tail together was maria, the nun in training turned baroness von trapp who wrote the story of the trap family singers, and passed away in 1987. >> my mother loved austria. for a long time she'd go back in april, and fly back and she'd say "i'm glass to be back here, now i can breathe." in europe she felt oppressed by the centuries of history, tradition, class differences, but here she felt able to spread her wings. >> maria's book was made into a german film, the story rights going to the produces, who sold them for the broadway play, "the sound of music." and later the beloved movie.

as a result the family von trapp has indirectly cashed in on their name. in its own way, a hollywood ending. except this fairytale is strong. >> why do americans love this story line so much? >> it's a masterpiece of movie making. it deals with themes that are fundamental to the human condition. love, family, love of a man and a woman. liv of country. and i think these themes resonate with people. you know "climb every mountain" is really metaphorical. i've been told many times that people have felt inspired by the film. ♪ follow every rainbow ♪ ♪ till you find your dream ...♪

so long, farewell. that's "america tonight". tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter or facebook and come back. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> tomorrow. >> i am a mother of a missing child. >> every parents worst nightmare. >> this could have been anybody. >> but in a twisted tale of neglect, abuse, murder and suicide. >> are kids today safer? >> who's to blame? >> i've answered your question. >> a dysfunctional family... >> the mother certainly played a role. >> a flawed investigation... >> do you feel that the police has been as fair? >> and a missing child. >> i hope that the person that has her just bring her home.

>> now, "america tonight" investigates the search for relisha. tomorrow, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrapup of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective on the news. weeknights, on al jazeera america .