SEATTLE -- Before they started disappearing, the mob of homeless children turned more than a few heads.

On May 10, Seattle Family Services brought 300 life-sized cardboard cutouts of homeless children to downtown Seattle as part of an awareness campaign.

The agency plans to place the cutouts on sidewalks and parks at community events throughout the summer, but its plans are being hindered by vandalism.

All but 117 of the cut-outs have been stolen or destroyed since May 10. Most damage happened at last weekend's Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center.

"There was graffiti tags across some children's faces. There were heads ripped off," said Patricia Gray, of Family Services. "There were reports of skateboarders carrying kids around. It was just kind of blatant destruction."

Gray says Family Services is looking for more sponsors to help the project – called "Don’t Look Away" – live longer.

It costs about $40 to produce a cardboard cutout of a child. Noland Homes and Hydrogen Advertising sponsored the first production.

The cardboard children hold signs to communicate what challenges homeless children face and why they become homeless, Gray said.

Those issues include domestic violence, cost of housing, mental illness and generational poverty. The issues have driven the youth homeless population upward.

"Children below the age of 6 are the fastest growing portion of the homeless population," Gray said. "They're also the most invisible and most vulnerable."

She hopes that with more sponsors, Family Services can bring the cut-outs to other community events. They're destinations are meant as a surprise, and despite the vandalism, she says people have been touched by their presence.

"It's really unfortunate," Gray said. "Obviously these children are there to communicate a really important message to people."