Q: iCloud photos disappeared

You may have never heard of the 30-day rule, but it was set up that way from the beginning. It's never changed since the day it started! It's too bad you weren't aware of it, but that's the way it works in the software world and with electronic devices ... just because you don't know something works a certain way doesn't "cut you any slack" when you run up against it.

There are no settings for you to alter. It was created that way from the beginning.

I Appreciate you explaining it so well. I've had all the apple products and honestly I can't believe I never fully understood how photo stream works. I always back my camera roll up to my pc but it didn't dawn on me as to why they disappeared  over night on my daughters phone. I already had some backup software and was able to go in and extract information that was missing. 

Thanks again.

All of this is BS!  I had to replace my busted iphone, with help from the genius bar.  They confirmed all was backed up, copied "all" my stuff to the replacement iphone, then wiped the old broken iphone.  Discovered a day later that photos were not backed up, and permanently lost.  Some genius!!