6yo girl missing in London, Greenwich - has now been found (updated by MNHQ)

[Theremedy]

From the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce58e7mjlxko

Mumsnet seems to have quite a large London population I thought it couldn’t hurt to spread the word. I can’t even imagine how scared a 6 year old would be out alone all night.

Have the police actually released the CCTV that shows what she is doing (ie wandering around) or said on which street she was last caught on CCTV (and if so which way she was heading?)

Not missed for so many hours is unusual (putting it neutrally) and it does rather leave people wondering why, and therefore missing the point of the appeal which is to find her (not to talk instead about any of the many possible but entirely hypothetical scenarios that might have led to this)

It's worrying isn't it. Summer holidays should be a happy time full of fun and adventure for small children but unfortunately for many it's a countdown until school goes back again where teachers care about them, where they get a decent hot meal and friendships with other children can resume.

Eerie watching that video. Where's the local play park?!

I am shocked at what people are saying about my home. I have been a single mother for years here on Thamesmead. It is lovely. And yes, children play out around their houses, nothing unusual there. Outside my window yesterday there was a 6 year old a 7 year old and an 8 year old playing together. I know them, and they were all within view of their mum's kitchen window, but you wouldn't know that if you just walked past.

I don't walk around alone at night, but that is more because of the "landscaped" lay out, beautiful by day but a bit of an unlit maze by night, particularly in the places where the pavement doesn't follow the road, but goes under it, along side canals, and through shrubbery.

I have run a brownie pack on Thamesmead, and we used to have a lot of children show up alone and go home alone, even in winter in the dark. We didn't like it TBH, but couldn't change it. For most it was a short distance, and the best we could get was a promise to ring us if a child was late back, and drilling into the girls that they had to go straight home, or we would get a call

There is some crime here, mostly drug and gang related, but if you don't get involved in that, then it is really quite a nice place to live. I don't recognise the terrible sink estate being portrayed in this thread. There is a great community here.

I am very afraid this poor little girl has gone into the Thames, it can look so cool and inviting on a hot day. As to why there appears to be so long between last sighting and reported missing, yes, that could be neglect, but could equally be each parent thought she was with the other.

"Maybe they were doing a late shift, starting at midday and ending at 10ish"

And didn't bother to ring and check on her? Yeah right.

School should be for education and yet it's everything for some children.

So many hate, or are in danger during, time when it's unavailable, when it's supposed to be the norm that parents are the main influence and caregivers.

If I saw a child alone in their jimjams in my leafy village not far from SW London. Of course I'd stop, try to gain the child's confidence to find out where mummy was, etc.

If I saw a child alone in their jimjams, not looking distressed, in the middle of the Thamesmead estate, where life is hard and there is organised crime that often involves threat and weapons, and I didn't know the provenance of the child, I'm not sure if I'd intervene. I might also think twice before calling the police for fear of repercussions.

London is a tale of two cities. Shocking but true and whilst those cities are millions of miles apart often only a few hundred yards separates them.

There is an Emergency Alert national system - used for national threats/disasters regionally (and castigated as v unpopular on MN as sinister government control/intrusion when they did a test of it a little while ago). So I don't think the country is ready for one for "missing" alerts when it's still so controversial for more direct threats to recipients.

The video shows one angle of the girl out playing but across the walk there could have been other kids out playing, it was a summers day. There could be others milling about and therefore seeing the child out playing wouldn’t be unusual.

I agree.

So many times on MN there are threads about very young children out in the street unsupervised, even late at night. You just know they're not talking about Acacia Avenue, Suburbia.

I love Thamesmead. Life is hard for some people everywhere, not in Thamesmead in particular

The length of time missing does seem like the parents thought she was with someone else (or separated parents each thinking she was with the other) and only noticing when she didn’t come home to bed/was finally able to get hold of other parent.

as well as school routine going, access arrangements are usually less standard in school holidays.

poor child, I hope she’s not gone in the river.

The Angell Town estate in Brixton is another one that has had some award-winning longform articles written about it and a great deal of urban-planning attention lavished on it. I spent several years living in Brixton very happily, but I wouldn't have stepped foot on Angell Town. London in general actually tends to have fewer "problem" estates because social housing is mostly mixed in everywhere with high-value owner-occupier property, but there are still a few.

It is NOT a rough area. It is beautiful. And yes, children play out

And didn't check? That's neglect. If you're happy to just assume the child is with the other, without actually communicating with each other, then that's failing to ensure your child is safe.

Just because in some places it's normal for children to be neglected, doesn't make it right.

As for comparing a lone 6 year old with a group of 6-8 year olds, that's nothing alike. This little girl was on her own. No friend to watch her back or run back to mum if something happened to another child.

Excuses aren't good enough.

I agree with you fully. She seemed happily playing outside a house/block of flats, people would assume she's just stepped out to play in the front, parents keeping an eye through the windows. I'm not sure I would have stopped in this scenario tbh. Very different to seeing a child distressed, crying etc or a child walking by themselves - then clearly you would want to investigate.

Maybe ask to get the title amended to Thamesmead - while part of Thamesmead is in the Borough of Greenwich, it's actually about 6 miles away. It'll help people look in the right place :)

No, that’s what child abusers have created. Put the blame where it actually belongs.

This is terrifying, there’s no excuse not to stop.

Some people on this thread.
Honestly.

It is not a sink estate where she disappeared from. See attached photo. That's the front of the building where she was last seen. Doesn't exactly look like an open crack market now does it. Because its not.

Will reserve judgement on the parents until more info is available. She could have left her house sleep walking and got lost.

Yes, the video looks to me as if it's right outside a block of flats. So I'm assuming people thought she lived there and was playing outside. Might not be great parenting, but it happens. Over the years I've lived in a few blocks of flats and kids playing out, sometimes alone, wasn't unusual at all.

It doesn't make sense though that it wasn't reported until much later. I suspect, as pp's suggested, it was a parent at work who left her alone.

Thamesmead isn't too bad these days, and as for the fact that she was playing out, I see lots of threads where people are proud to say their children can play out because they live in a village or a cul de sac or "it is totally normal here. I live in Scotland."

I walk past plenty of 6 year olds who are seemingly unsupervised, but probably outside their house or being watched from a window - I don't think we should blame anyone for not assuming the worst.

They regenerate the buildings but the same old people live there. You can try to spin that if it helps you sleep at night, but most of us know a rough estate when we see one!

That's the new(ish) waterfront development, the old thamesmead is the other side and far worse..! I hate to say it but she's right by the Thames, missing for that long and not reported is very worrying!! I couldn't pass a young child like that in pj's alone at midday.. sadly many do.

As there has been a small diversion into the architecture of post-War social housing, here is an article about Thamesmead

A brief history of Brutalist social estate Thamesmead - ICON Magazine (iconeye.com)

that was started in the brutalist style, but only phases 1 & 2 of that were completed.

Hoping the little girl is soon found.
To see children outside playing on a council estate is very common, she doesn’t appear to look distressed, passers by probably thought she lived in the flats in view and with no gardens it’s perfectly normal for children to play on the grass areas.
Nobody knows the circumstances or why she wasn’t reported missing for such a long time.
Clearly lots of work being done behind the scenes by the police right now- praying for a positive outcome.