In England the McCanns would be arrested

[LostPuppy]

Off the bat, I of course hope with all my heart that Madeleine is returned safely

But her "parents" are a disgrace. They left Madeleine and two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie sleeping in the apartment ON THEIR OWN. They had taken turns to return from the restaurant to check on their children.

Now hang on! In this country that is illegal, for very good reason.

Even if they 'checked on them' every five minutes that's plenty of time for one of the kids to wake up and try to go to the toilet and crack it's head open slipping on the bathroom floor, or something equally disastrous. They'd never hear the screaming from a bloody restaurant down the road!

Obviously it's unlikely, but I just cant comprehend the mentality of leaving three children under 3 alone on their own, ever, let alone at night in a foreign country!

Of course I don't want to tar and feather the parents. They must be suffering unimaginably.

But there is a genuine point about child protection here.

It is an offence under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 to neglect or abandon a child under the age of 16 for whom a parent or carer has responsibility.

Although the law gives no detail of what amounts to neglect or abandonment, leaving toddlers in a different building, out of earshot, would in my opinion constitute neglect and abandonment.

IT IS NOT SAFE TO DO THIS. IT IS NOT LEGAL TO DO THIS. AND THIS PRACTICE IS NOT DEFENSIBLE SO PLEASE DON'T EVEN TRY TO DEFEND IT.

The McCann's did nothing wrong. I have three little ones and I may have done the same thing if on holiday at a resort such as this. They were on the same property as the children. They were on the premises FFS. It's not like they disappeared to the other side of the village for hours and hours.

This was a well planned abduction. I think that this girl was spotted by her abductors,and they wanted HER for a reason. The abductors walked right past her 2 year old blond brother who would fetch a higher price on the baby market and they went for Madeleine. Those bastards would have got her no matter what her parents did.

I dont defend her right to express this opinion. Instead, I question why on earth you would want to express this opinion at a time like this, on a public forum? There is such a thing as decency and good taste. FFS, think it if you like, but while a child is missing, don't say it. It's just an extremely poorly judged, insesnitive comment to make, I'm sorry. Will the OP be saying 'its all your fault, told you so' to her parents if the worst is found to have happened?

And putting the word parents inside inverted commas in the original post...? How incredibly mean-spiritied.

Yes its the lynch mob attitude expressed in op that's offensive

Look at the emotive judgemetal language used - vitriolic *nasty

i quote LostPuppyBut her "parents" are a disgrace.

putting "parents" in commas - is that sarcasm to denigate them as people

if u dont like this post then report by clicking the red exclamation mark next to original post

It is NOT illegal to leave your child unattended.

And that is entirely not the point with this case now anyway. It is certainly not the time for it regardless of how anyone feels ont hat matter, not whilst the poor child is still missing.

The only person(s) to blame for Madeleine's disappearance is the person who has taken her.

Kathy - for what it is worth, when ds is asleep, one of us is always in the house or there is a babysitter. Unless you have your TV turned up full-blast or loud music on, it's amazing what parental hearing picks up if the doors are left open or a baby monitor is on. For me at least, part of parenting is accepting that you no longer have unlimited freedom... Not until your children are mature enough to look out for themselves...

[pitchforks]
[torches]

sorry bout all the bold im pissed off worked up -sorry ladies

Message withdrawn

Quattrocento - as you say yourself in your post, that is your opinion, it is not the law. It is not illegal.

A child could choke on vomit at night whilst their parents slept in the next room!

I assume not everyone sleeps with a tv monitor showing their sleeping child, right next to their face? (I do.. but even I sleep sometimes! It could happen then!)

Attila, yes, but surely they could do it with compassion.

Well indeed.

It still stands though that dissent and or difference of opinion should be tolerated. Pulling threads smacks of censorship and (generally speaking here) makes people think that if they disagree with what is being written they cannot or should not post.

If this case wasn't in our minds, would people think it was okay to leave three little children in an appartment at a holiday resort? The reason I ask is that people seem to be taking the view that because such a horrible thing has happened, the decision the parents made must be okay. And that's not logical.

Mumpbump, I think you're being a bit naive about the magical qualities of parental hearing.
FWIW I don't tend to leave my children (5 months and 23 months) home alone (!)
My point was that Quattrocento is implying that if you are there you will hear something and sadly that's total rubbish.
Our house has terrible sound insulation but with the tv on you don't hear my dd screaming till she gets really loud. You certainly wouldn't hear her choking. Anyone that thinks that nothing can happen to their children if they are in the same house is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Hmmm....

I'm relatively new and this issue has been a real eye-opener.

I'm shocked at the abuse being thrown around by people in response to someones opinion.

Is this not a discussion forum where people put forward a view and it is argued over?

I don't leave the house at all when my kids are asleep - it's kind of an un-written rule i suppose (although i would be surprised to find it was illegal) - so i can see where the original poster was coming from.

I wonder whether, during the investigation, they will find that there was an element of 'pre-planning' to this abduction? ie..they were targeted and watched beforehand rather than it being an opportunistic snatch.

Could any of us gaurantee that this would not happen to us? The only way to avoid that would be to be in the same room as them 24/7 - and no-one is crazy enough to do that.

I'm not going to judge the McCanns cos i don't know anything about how they looked after their kids. None of us do.

Blaming the McCanns for what they did serves no useful purpose at all. There are many of us who would not do what they did, but what is to be gained from this pointless argument? They may, God forbid, have to live with their poor choice for the rest of their days, and please lets fervently hope that is not the case. Whether you chose to do as they did or not, is personal choice, and it is not illegal to leave toddlers alone, by the way, although admittedly ill advised to say the least. I am sick of hearing people say pretty much that they deserved this to happen, it's on a par with the stupid comments about their children being IVF so surely if they wanted them that badly they should really have known better, as if that makes a difference ffs.

Hulababy

I promise you that you are wrong. It is not illegal to leave them unattended, providing that you are within earshot etc. If you don't believe me, check with your solicitor.

What is important is the children. Children matter to me. They have rights to be cared for and loved and protected.

Having children does mean giving up some of the freedoms we all enjoyed when we were young and giddy.

I believe, as a professional person, that it is easy to forget that. To believe that I am somehow more entitled to me-time than they are to being cared for.

This is wrong. We need to put our infants first.

Well, if it's not against the law to leave small children unattended (alone in a building - the McCanns had entirely left the building, as I understand it), then it should be.

No-one is arguing that we can entirely eliminate risk, but it is our duty as parents to take as few risks as possible, surely?

I also think that if Quattrocentro works in childcare and regularly sees cases of so-called "parental neglect", she is going to be that more aware of the risks than other people because she presumably has to deal every day with the unfortunate consequences of "parental neglect", however you define it. So I don't think it's fair to start laying into her simply because she has a different and probably more sensitive perspective on this particular subject.