A Hillsborough county family is praying for their loved one's safe return.

Lyssa Ventura disappeared one week ago Tuesday.  Family and friends haven't seen her ever since and now her family is taking their plea public.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has searched with their choppers, K-9's, on foot, online and has since found no trace.

Meantime, the family is holding out hope that somehow Lyssa will come home alive.

"She's brilliant,” said Rachel Ventura, Lyssa’s mother describing her daughter. “She's beautiful.  She's gotta great heart but she doesn't believe it."

From all accounts, Lyssa has had a tough life. Her family said she was abused as a child by her birth parents and that’s why she was taken into the custody of the state. At 6 months, Orlando and Rachel Ventura took Lyssa into their home as foster parents and that’s who she has been with ever since.

Lyssa was last seen on Tuesday after arguing with her parents. Officials said after that, she ran off to her boyfriend’s apartment and has never been seen since.

Her mom said Lyssa made a mistake by running away and now fears she's in the wrong hands, if, she says, she’s still alive.

"I'm fearful that I'm going to get a call that she's dead,” said Rachel Ventura.  Adding, "I've asked everybody that I could think of have they heard from her, have they seen her, do they know of anybody that they could think of that she would be with.  Nobody knows anything."

The family has plastered the neighborhood with flyers, created a Facebook page to find her, and have reached out to all her friends.

Her family said she's mentally ill and she’s tried to take her life several times. Her father has now made a public plea to his daughter.

"We love you very much,” said Orlando Ventura, Lyssa’s father, as he looked directly into the camera.  “We want you to come home.  We're going to try and get you as much help as you need.  Don't destroy your future.  Please come home."

Orlando and Rachel Ventura are a mother and a father who have helped raised nearly two dozen foster children over the years.

They are a mother and father who desperately want their daughter to come home.

"And I've always told her I might not like the choices that you make but you're a good girl that sometimes makes bad choices,” said Rachel Ventura.  “I might not agree with what you're doing but I'll always be your mother."

Meantime, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office says the case is still active and it’s now in both the state and national databases.

The hope, investigators say, is that the more eyes see her picture and hear her name, the better.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s investigators say they need your help.  If you have any information, you are urged to give them a call.