My DD was in hospital last week. On her ward was a young boy, age 3. He was brought onto the ward at 2 o'clock by 3 nurses. He spoke no English. No sign of his parents. All day, no sign of any family. All night, no sign of anyone. He sobbed on and off all night, "Mama, mama, mama". I kept getting up and rubbing his back and he would go back to sleep for a while before starting again. He cried all morning, still "Mama, mama", we left at 12 o'clock, still no sign of any parents. Nurses were waiting for them, they had (apparently) gone out for a meal the night before and promised to come in early in the morning. Nurses ringing them, still hadn't left home by 11. He was gorgeous. He tried to climb into MY arms, but I was not allowed to pick him up - understandable rules, not blaming nurses at all. They had to pick up the pieces, reorder their rotas etc, so someone was with him exclusively. Poor little mite! I've tried to justify this by thinking "everyone needs a break at times", "maybe they hadn't been out for ages" etc. I have no idea how long he had been in hospital for, but I cannot imagine any situation, where there were two parents in a family, that would mean leaving a child of that age, distressed like that, without keeping the hospital informed. AIBU?