A thread to discuss DEVELOPMENTS regarding Maddie McCann

[jampot]

We can discuss parenting styles in a few weeks

I think we all need to focus on what we can do - we need to keep hoping and praying that she's alive and found quickly. Hermy - there's nothing you can do and getting yourself in a state won't help anyone, please just keep your thoughts positive.

I honestly think she's still alive - i think it was a well planned abduction and she's hundreds of miles away by now, but if we keep this to the forefront of the news then maybe the pressure will get too much and whoever is keeping her will release her.

Let's keep positive, and keep praying.

Please let tommorrow be the day they find her x That report was just heartbreaking.

on trevor macdonald tonight - the first mention (that I'm aware of) of whether leaving young children alone is negligent or legal..

I only hope that the decision to leave those little ones alone is not one that the Mccann's live to regret for the rest of their lives and that Madeleine is returned safely to their care soon.

Clearly no more obvious developments as yet.

I'm trying to focus on 'no news is good news'.

I didn't watch the Trevor McDonald report, but I had wondered about that, the negligent or legal situation.

The gist was that there is no legal age limit for leaving a child unattended but there is a case for negligence if you are leaving that child open to potential risk of harm

I didn?t watch it, tbh I don?t imagine it contained anything we didn?t already know, and the rest is most likely speculation and hearsay.

But I do wonder how long the police can keep up this level of searching etc. at what point will they scale it back and consceed that she?s most likely no longer in the area, or at worse, in the country? It?s a sad fact but they can?t keep up this level of investigation indefinitely, so is there a cut off point? Or is it just when they?ve searched the whole area thoroughly or something?

God knows. I think they should perhaps think about doing these searches almost in reverse, i.e. instead of first searching really close by to where the child went missing, start a bit further out and work their way in, and then go much furhter out if that doesn't turn anything up. In the time that they're searching neighbouring apartments, the abductor is being given time to get away, as I don't think it's that likely that an abductor is going to keep the child really close to where they abducted from, iyswim. They're going to try and get a bit further afield asap, surely?

I imagine that once the media hype dies down, the police searches will die down too, obviously the case will remain open for as long as she is missing, but at the moment the police need to be seen to be extensively searching, and of course it's only been five days since she went missing, but there will come a point when they will have exhausted every possibility.

as for searching further a field, the problem with that is where do you start? you could start say, 5 miles away and work back, but that kind of protocol would soon become known so anyone with a motive would operate accordingly.

It's an impossible situation. Horrible to have to know where to start, make the right decisions etc.

If the dogs lost her scent after 250 yards does this suggest they got into a car? If so and if the parents were checking the kids every half hour as they stated then the poor child could've have been 29 minutes away from that area before they even knew she was gone. just...awful.

In that respect I think a lot of criticism aimed at the police is unjust (on the information we currently have anyway) although I can understand the emotive reasons for it. Even now, I have just seen an interview with a local who is still personally scouring the surrounding area - along with hundreds of others - whose to say they are not contaminating the trail (however well-meaning - it's the most natural thing in the world to be roused into action to try to help) and how do the police stop this happening? Simple answer - they can't. I just good fortune is on their side and a happy conclusion comes out of this.

going back to the earlier news that broke at 5.15pm about Nalas then the news conference where the police said it was a false alarm - do you think they may have just said that to stop the media rushing up to Nalas as they were pushed into giving the news conference by the British interest but due to their laws cannot say anything about the .
it seemed a short time - just over an hour from the news breaking before they decided it was a false alarm

Regardless of the outcome here I think there is something that we could do.
I've been on Mark Warner/ Sunsail type holidays for about five years (at the behest of my husband and feel that these companies(rather than the parents) should accept some responsibility, feel a sense of guilt and should be lobbied to change their practices.
Both MW and Sunsail sell themselves as great family companies BUT the make it almost impossible to eat with your kids.
So, on a typical evening you rush back from whatever you've been doing to feed the kids at 5 ( but parents can't eat at 5). You then have to bath the kids, get them to bed and get yourself ready before you are served dinner, usually any time from 7.30 to 9p.m.
Here you have a few options: You can take a Granny with you, but have to rush back with dinner for her when it's finally served. You can hire an unknown baby sitter and hope that you're ready before they arrive. You can use baby listening which is worse than useless. One of you can stay back while the other runs back and forward with your various courses. You can take the kids out for dinner and exhaust them. You can rely on a baby monitor which may or may not stretch far enough.
Whichever method you lump for it's not perfect and you can be sure that one of you (usually the wife) will be far from happy with it.
I've tried all the above methods and despite the protestations of my other half haven't been happy with any of them.
SO let's ask these companies to become really family friendly and allow folks with kids to eat WITH their kids at 5 - and at lunchtime.
These companies sell themselves as family friendly: They're anything but.

What do you mean "not allowed"?! Who's paying for the holiday?

Twinklemegan they will only serve the kids at 5 - adults have to wait until later. What usually happens is the parents eat the kids' food and cakes on offer at 5 and their own meal later, so return from hols like beached whales.

I can see why the police are not releasing certain information, unlike here where we get told all sorts true and false. Remember when we thought Holly and Jessica had been seen by a motorway?

Also, depending on who they think they are dealing with they may not wish to panic them into doing anything. The media here are too desperate to scoop everyone else and will print or report anything no matter how it might affect what is going on. The Portugeuse police will be criticised for not playing their game.

I was just about to say that Hatrick. I can't stand being told what I can and can't do - it's like being on a school trip and I hated those too!

Absolutely - but where self catering can you get someone to provide pretty brill child care during the day while you sail/ ski and the kids meet up with lots of pals. Have tried self catering too and apart from the meals fiasco it's pretty hard to beat what MW/ Sunsail have to offer both kids and adults.

Don't you want to be together as a family though on a family holiday? I'm not being funny, I'm interested.

What about Club Med? They're supposed to be good aren't they?

True. So what you do is let everyone have a bit of what they want. You can pick and choose what activities you or the kids do. Last year my (now) 6 yr old wouldn't look at us, except for the odd bit of sailing or tennis - cos she had a brill crowd of kids. The wee one was similar. It totally depends on the nannies, crowd of kids etc, what they're happiest doing.

But YES I would like to do things together as a family - but can be tricky with large age gap. At the very least would like to eat together!!!! As in every marriage one has to compromise.