Missing Teenager Serena Beakhurst

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AIBU to feel sadly that the media and perhaps society as a whole are only interested in white middle class females who go missing..
compare the search for Joanna Yeats with the almost total lack of media coverage for 14 year old Serena Beakhurst

oops no idea why my phone has repeated post 3 times

i think there is some truth in the lesser interest in non white middle class teenagers dissapearences

even on this thread assumptions have been made about probability of Serena being a bit of a tearaway and involved in gang culture. the belief that the police must have good reason to doubt she is 'properly missing'..based as far as i can see on only her appearance and location. her family obviously are seriously concerned she has been abducted and are fighting to get interest and publicity.

Island lady- my uncle disappeared leaving his keys, coat and wallet in the house. He was a married, v middle class grandfather but the police didnt seem to do much of any invetigating. He was officially declared dead 7 years later.

god that's awful darlene, do you have any idea at all what might have happened to him?

this isinteresting article and mentions Serena, found the link on the Find Serena FB page

It is assumed that a child from this girls background (and that of my children) are likely to be
involved in gangs
involved in drugs
have dysfunctional families
run away a lot
are sexual promiscious
have parents who are so busy scoring, aruging, shagging, they dont care what is happening to their kids
and this sort of thing just happens to us and we are used to it.

Even those of us with black kids who live in crappy areas and may even be on benefits
Love our children
care about them
Our children do not automatically
drop out of school
take drugs
drink
involved in gangs
Even though all of the above is harder for them to avoid and they therfore have to put more effort into it.

My son went missing last year. Big suprise I DID care and it was not something that we just expected. Me and his dad were devastated. It was awful, the worst time since our DD died. No one really gave much of a toss, until they actaully really spoke to us and came to our house.

Once they knew we spoke in sentances and had books on the shelves and this wasnt part of a 'get the kid a council flat scam' they took notice.

Why should we have to prove that our kids are as vunerable as any other?

Sorry on the first....

just who assumes that - I dont? and no -one I know does or is this the usual rubbish about all white people being racist infact I would go as far to suggest that your assumption that any white person would automatically think like that is in fact also racist.

When my 13 year old white niece from a housing association with a mother on benefits went missing for 5 days last year
we didnt have headlines in the Daily Mail, we didnt have a team of Police on overtime desperatly seraching for her.

No we had two bored looking plod who just took details, when one of them asked my sister 'could the girl be with her Father' you could see by the expression on her face that she wanted to add 'if you know who he is' afterwards - the look on her face when she was told my Nieces Father was dead would have been comical if it hadnt been so insulting.

She was eventually found living in the shed of a boy she liked and had been forbidden to see, but despite us telling the police about the boy and giving the address the police hadnt even interviwed him, the lads mum found my Niece creeping out of the bathroom
in the early hours and called my sister.

So sorry I cant concur that the only reason this young girl disappreance is being ignored the one reason only and that reason is that she is mixed race

Perhaps this is more class than colour.

well islandlady your story seems also to point to inequality with the way the disappearance of some vulnerable young peoples are dealt with by police and the lack of wider interest due to assumptions made about your family's socio economic status

did your sister approach local or national meda? did she fear your neice had been abducted? would a pair of middle class professional parents have garnered more attention and support?

TBH i always find the inability to see discrimination based on race and class really frustrating

Well I am white so

but do carry on.

was your ds found safe and well MrsDeVere?

i can't imagine anything more frightening than losing my children and having to fight to convince police to take their disappearance seriously is a nightmare scenario

Also,

did you read my post?

If not, please read the fist line and have a little rethink.

The child's background. Not the child's ethinic background. Background.

clearer now?

Yes thank you countless. He is fine now. It seemed to be a delayed reaction to the death of his sister amoung other things. Thank you for asking.

None of them drugs or gangs though

sorry MrsD i agree completely with all the points you made
trying to catch up with thread at busiest time of day in my house via my dodgy phone

just who assumes that - I dont? and no -one I know does or is this the usual rubbish about all white people being racist infact I would go as far to suggest that your assumption that any white person would automatically think like that is in fact also racist.

This part of your post has confused me. Could you explain it and please point out where in my post I a, said that all white people think - well what exactly?
b.I am talking about black families exclusively?

The part about me being racist - I wont ask you explain that because it makes no sense whatsoever and I am just assuming you are a confused about something you think you read.

Thank you.

Even those of us with black kids who live in crappy areas and may even be on benefits
Love our children
care about them
Our children do not automatically
drop out of school
take drugs
drink
involved in gangs
Even though all of the above is harder for them to avoid and they therfore have to put more effort into it

see the above

You are saying that if you have black kids people will assume they will do the things you list, I dont assume that black Children do any of the things you list so who assumes it?

No. EVEN those with black kids, not ONLY those of us with black kids.

I think you were just a bit too quick off the mark with that one.

You appear to have read my post, disagreed with it and then wrote an almost identical one.

How odd.

And if you think that no-one assumes that black kids do the things on the list you are not being entirely honest are you?

The thing is - you didnt read my post properly, you over reacted for your own reasons and now you are trying to justify your silly statement that I am racist.

Carry on if you want but it wont get you anywhere.

Yes, I agree....

in these cases white trumps black
female trumps male
children trump adults, young attractive adults probably trump older ones
not sure about class

But if you're a black male, chances are pretty slim that the media would care as much as for a white female.

I do wonder if the location has any part to play as well?

Clifton is a very middle class part of Bristol,with a well known reputation for being quiet,having a high community based police presence,and commanding very high house/ rental prices..One would assume those involved would want the case dealt with extremely quickly to preserve that reputation..

As opposed to someone who disappeared from say Hackney..

Are the family of this young girl in London saying they think she has been abducted? It just seems to me they are moaning about not getting as much publicity as the Bristol case. Why don't they say clearly what route she was taking, what time she was last seen etc etc. If it is the case that a 14 year old school girl left home to go to school and then vanished on her way I am damn sure no matter what colour or background it would make headline news across the country.

countless- nope, he maybe went hillwalking/camping and got lost/died of natural causes

aren't there suposed to be 8/9 murders of children by strangers per year? we never hear of that many in the media. What makes these others different from the sarah paynes, millie dowlers, and holly and jessicas?

I live locally, and today (3Jan) there has been the first report about Serena Beakhurst on the BBC local news.

At last! And hope it helps.

i'm happy they're getting more publicity now bbc link

here's a link for printable poster if you're in local area

She's been found, alive and well and with friends, just not bothering to tell any of those who were worried about her that she was fine.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12117359

Predictable conclusion?

next time, let's save the blame game and go straight to Twitter.

Thank God she's safe, her poor family must have been going through agonies. [grounds Serena for a million years]

As she has now been found safe and well does this then put a very diffferant light on the lack of publicity. I guess that the police were aware of some critical facts that the MN jury were not in possession of. It?s such a shame that as a society people now look at pointing fingers and assuming facts very much not in evidence. It was clearly not a white / black, young / old or woman / man issue.
375 Children go missing every day according to this poster.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/1117126-White-woman-missing-syndrome-Serena-Beakhurst-missing-since-15th-Dec

The police publicise the details of those they feel in grave danger clearly with the Joanna case unfortunately they were proved to be correct. Maybe it?s my naivety but I have faith in our law enforcement teams. Maybe we encourage them in their jobs.