UK Toddler abducted....

[spaced]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestersh ire/6623127.stm

I dont feel sorry for the parents. I feel sorry for the child. Who in their right mind would leave such a young child on their own in a hotel, regardless of checking on them every 30 mins.

in minutess you could die from smoke inhalation, it takes seconds for as child to eat or drink something poisonous, seconds for them to hurt themselves, cut themselevs and bleed to death in 30 mins.

I think it's outragious. Why leave the child in the room, while you have dinner. terrible. I have no sympathy. Poor child.

[netibiza]

think I mean *assessed*

[spaced]

Lizzy, I think your opinion is yours and no-one should chastise you for it, but this is the fault of the parents, pure and simple.

No matter how safe a place is proved to be, you should never leave underaged children alone. End of.

Accidents happen in seconds, let alone in 30 mins. You wouldnt dream of leaving you kids alone in the UK let alone in a foreign country. Volvos are deemed the safest cars in the worls, but you can still be klilled in one in a crash. Unfortunately, the way society is these days, no one is safe anywhere. Murders happen in the most quiet and rural of places, not just in cities. SO you see, even thought it must be hard for the parents, you can not feel TOTAL sympathy for them, as they have placed themselves, and their poor daughter, in this horrible and totally avoidable situation

[libertie]

Not that many years ago it was deemed perfectly safe and acceptable by thousands of British families to go on holiday and leave their children asleep in chalets, depending on chalet patrols to inform them of a baby crying! Wonder where all those parents are today...clearly not on AB!!

[pilchard]

A huge error of judgement on the parents side which Maddy is paying for in the most horrendous way.

Would you lock your kids in the house while you were in the pub at the end of the road??? At least you could potentially hear a distressed child while sitting in your back garden.

The abductor was waiting for an opportunity and the parents supplied it. Maybe even attracting attention to themselves back and forwards checking on the children, high lighting the fact the kids were unsupervised.

I keep checking the news hoping she is found safe and well, but will she ever be the same again.

I have a young daughter and if i had neglected to provide suitable care for them and this happen. I'm not sure i could live with myself......

[smudge]

I was having a little chat with my 17 year old granddaughter in her lunch break today & she said her college tutor & the students were all talking about this awful, very sad case. The general consensus of opinion there, was that although they all felt very sorry for the little girl's parents, they should not have left her, or her younger twin siblings on their own - 'specially if there were baby sitting/creche facilities available.

She also added that she was so pleased we didn't leave her in the Hotel room on her own when we took her on holiday with us at 4 years old. On that particular holiday, she'd been out of her push chair for 18 months, but we still took it with us in case she got tired later in the evenings. She ate with us every meal time & sat with us when watching night time entertainment, usually falling asleep safe & sound in her push chair next to us.

Having said that & as previously mentioned, I really do feel for the parents & family of this little girl & if praying makes their situation more bearable, then so be it.

Also, I thought the reason you are advised to use the Hotel/Apartment safes, are in the event of anyone breaking into a room! The parents must have been made aware of this at some stage.....

Sadly, in this case it's an innocent child who's been taken - not money or jewellery....

[annavc]

I'm with "lizziedrippin" on this one. Yes "spaced" I have TOTAL sympathy with the parents. I wonder how many other people eating in that restaurant were doing exactly the same thing as these parents. I can guarrantee you it was not just them - in fact others in their own party were. It was nothing but the actions of a one twisted individual and very bad luck - wrong place at the wrong time - these parents have nothing to feel guilty about and I'm sure they have the TOTAL sympathy of the vast majority of people (although clearly not those on AB!).

This could have happened even if they were in the apartment - remeber the story not so long ago about the little girl abducted from the bath in her own home and raped while her parents were downstairs. I suppose you lot would blame her parents too.

If a twisted individual such as this is absolutely determined to abduct a child there is very little which can be done to prevent it. If it hadn't been Maddie it would have been another child.

[netibiza]

But by not being in the apartment, the parents enabled this to happen.

[smudge]

Further to my post - if you left cash, jewellery or expensive items in a hotel room & went out for the day or evening - would you feel a tad upset if it had disappeared when you got back?

Children vs Materials - I rest my case!

[libertie]

You know what, maybe just maybe they thought that leaving their children asleep in their room was preferable to taking them out in their pushchairs and keeping them awake late on in the evening!! And before the hollier than thou brigade jump in and condemn them for that, part of the reason people go on holiday is to have a break from the norm! No they wouldn't do it at home and with hindsight they obviously will regret doing it in Portugal but for goodness sake saying that their other children should be put into care or given to a family who would look after them properly is just ridiculous!!

[fayelc123]

lizzydrippin, i make you feel sick because i have no sympathy for 2 parents who left their 3 babies alone! How can that make you sick but what they did doesn't! & i don't agree with you but haven't told you to keep your opinions to yourself! So don't tell me what to do or say!
All my sympathy is with the little girl!

[smudge]

I would rather have a child fast asleep, safely by my side in a push chair, rather than he/she waking up in unfamiliar surroundings calling out for Mummy, Daddy, Nanny or Grandad. In our case, our granddaughter had a 'siesta' in the afternoons along with us, so we all enjoyed being out in the evenings. That's what 'most' locals do too & we used to join them!

Having said that, I also think it's ludicrous that some people think the other children should be taken into care.

This couple made a terrible mistake in thinking their children would be safe - but they weren't.

[joko]

if the parents really were only yards away, why didn't they take their baby monitor with them?

[netibiza]

Why would most people think it was any safer in Portugal or Spain or wherever? Paedophiles go on holiday also!! We are always telling people that over here.

[chompu]

I wasn't going to post on here because many of the replies have coincided with my own opinion. However I must say how wrong lizzie dripping and annavc are to totally exonerate the parents.I could understand if these were people of low intelligence and poor parenting skills but these are drs. who should know better.As spaced points out in his question it only takes a second for a child to seriously harm themselves. If you and your family have done this, lizzie, then your judgement is also seriously flawed.Two of my children had serious accidents when they were toddlers. If I hadn't been there to take immediate action, the consequences would have been much worse, in the daughters case probably resulting in her death.Ironic that when we took my son to hospital we received a severe grilling from the DOCTOR as to how he came by his injuries. I don't believe the majority of people agree with your opinions. Judging from other forums and general conversation most people agree with the majority of postings on here.Incidently, annavc. not that it's really relevant but the little girl who was abducted from her bath was in a downstairs toilet whilst her mother was upstairs seeing to her brother. The offender knew the family and the outlay of the house.

[smudge]

Like you chompu, I wasn't going to post, but felt compelled to do so.

Apart from a child being taken - I thought of all the other scenarios - maybe a child waking up terrified of being alone, whether in a dimly lit room or in complete darkness - also the possibilty of getting/falling out of bed & hurting themeselves on a bedside cabinet or on other furniture.

Blimey, the times we've been abroad when there have been power cuts - even I was scared stiff of moving around a darkened room, feeling for the torch on the dressing table, or wherever else we'd left it! It does happen!

[xanderma]

When we go on holiday, we eat AS A FAMILY, go out together AS A FAMILY, laze by the pool AS A FAMILY - you get the picture. There seem to be so many people who judge 'ideal' holidays as the ones where they can offload the kids into kids clubs by day and leave with babysitters by night - I don't see the point. When our children were as little as this family, we used to eat early together, and still do now - there's plenty of time for 'grown-up' evening meals when the children have flown the nest, they're young for such a short time we want to savour every minute of our holidays TOGETHER. Am I on my own in this?

[webbo3]

completely agree xanderma, all these mediteranean restaurants are very welcoming to families and children, i expect the two youngest would have fell asleep in the buggy/s and the three year old would have sat eating a plate of chips or a ice cream.
i do feel for the parents and hope they find her alive and well but quite simply they failed her as parents.

[NikkiB]

I get the feeling that some people are quick to "defend" the parents actions in this case because of the parents professions and certain people are prone to hold doctors in a Godlike esteem. Maybe they wouldn't be so quick to defend the parents if they were a plumber and a checkout girl or two people on the dole.
When little Maddie is found safe and well, I would expect nothing less than a social services investigation - not taking the children into care, an investigation - and if need be, warnings and training. No parent, no matter what their profession, should be beyond this. But that's jumping the gun. At the moment, every resource should go into finding the little one. I believe the investigation has been hampered greatly by the sloppy actions of the police, but that's another debate.

[ruby27]

If social services received information that a parent, Dr, salesperson, unemployed (whatever) that the parent(s) had left the child alone in such circumstances, they would write a letter advising them of the unsuitability of their actions. This would be done under Section 17 Children Act 1989 (child in need) it would not constitute a investigation/Section 47(child at risk) - that would be sum total of action unless the parents requested further assistance

[Goodsoulette]

I think the reason people are getting cross with those of us that say we would never do that is because for some reason they think we arent being sympathetic. Of course I feel much sympathy for them, its horrendous and I cant imagine how they must feel but if you think for one minute that the main thought in their head isnt "WHy the **** did we leave them alone?" then you are more than like very very wrong. That will be their big regret whether she turns up ok or not.

I cant empathise with them because I wouldnt do it.