General Chat

Police have renewed their efforts to find Madeleine McCann, and about time too!

Her mother has said she wants her back as soon as possible but has anybody thought how the little girl would be affected?

If she was kidnapped to be adopted by somebody,and I hope she was, she will have known that family since she was three and will love them.They will be her life.

Yes,she was kidnapped illegally but she is not a commodity that ha a rightfull owner.She is a little girl who will be terribly hurt by being taken from her family again.

It doesn't get any better really,does it?

Madeline was days away from her fourth birthday when she was taken, I can remember back to when I was 4, in fact I can remember being 2, so I imagine she will too. In recent cases of kidnaps of older children being rescued after years, the now adult children seem to fit back into there families.

Whoever it is who took Madeline, they are evil, and if she is ever found, when she is an adult she will know that.

There are also cases in Argentina where babies were taken from there parents, to be given to other families, some were taken straight after birth and the others told there babies had died, years later, after DNA testing, the truth was revealed, from what I have read, and followed on TV, there were many children, who hated there abductors, and returned to a loving family.The organisation who started the return of these children is called, Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, well worth reading about, such remarkable women.

I guess the most important thing is to find out whether she is still alive. And how long she lived after this abduction. Whether she was happy, whether she is happy?

Her parents have been frustrated in their efforts to find these truths, and have been dogged in their determination. It must have hurt deeply that so many people felt they were somehow involved in her disappearance, or negligent parents.

And I can remember clearly 2 events that happened before my third birthday, and many before I was 4. Little Maddy will have a good idea that something happened to her, if she is still alive somewhere.

It depends on what she was told by her abductors. Some children have been told that their family no longer loves or wants them and they become dependant on their "new" family. How sad that would be.

Even if she were told by the abductors that she wasn't loved, at nearly 4, she would remember her early life, and with the right counselling, she would more than,likely see through there evil lies.

Whoever it was who abducted her to either keep her or pass her on, when a child is old enough would despise them once they know the truth.

Her name is Madeleine, not Maddie or Maddy.

Her parents were negligent. No it is not like dining in your garden whilst your children are asleep!

I am reserving all judgement unless someone can prove definitively that Eddie and Keela blew their 100% accuracy record on the same case.

I shall not comment further other than to state I really do hope she is still alive.

I think we all think this although I would say alive AND happy would be more to the point.

What is really important is that she should remain HAPPY.

The sniffer dog is called Edward, not Eddie or Ed ;-)

I am called Sharron and if people on my thread start taking pops at each other I am going to pull it.

You want to start sniping,you start your own thread to do it on.

I once left my 4 month old son asleep, in our house, whilst we were outside our front door at a street party, we checked him every few minutes, also we lost our daughter in Oxford Street, she slipped my hand, she was found 15 minutes later, a couple had taken her to a shop, she told them we were going to.

Would I be classed as negligent, if someone had come through my back door and took our son, or the "wrong " couple had taken our daughter, I certainly hope not, the police who were called to look for our daughter never said I shouldn't have lost grip of her hand, they were as ecstatic as we were that she was found.

But had someone got in our house to take our son, or that couple taken our daughter, would we be saying that I should have been a better parent or would we be focusing on the scum that took them, I hope it would be the latter.

We don't know what happened in Portugal, we weren't there, just like when any other child goes missing, we weep for the parents.

Totally right, Lynda. It is scurrilous to suggest they were negligent parents.

One thing I am very pleased about - SueC seems to be back to her combative best :-)

Sue is right and sadly we all know in our hearts they were negligent parents. Lynda - I agree, we've all had moments like when out shopping, etc. but you didn't go off to a restaurant and leave your children on their own

But we DON'T know they were negligent for goodness sake, but as I've said even if they were careless, does that make them worse than the abductor/s or are you saying the abduction was planned by the parents?

In the case of April Jones, which is in court at the moment, are you saying her parents were negligent in letting her out, or that Sarah Paynes parents were negligent when her children went out alone, I do hope not.

It's the abductors who are to blame, we should all be able to leave our children asleep, without the fear of them being taken by a stranger.

Whatever the situation ...if the children that go missing and are found dead or alive ...The public always want someone to blame

Its a personal situation

I wouldnt have left my children in a flat or room alone at that age asleep or not...

Now one thing which did come to light was Maddy (whatever her name ) was check on 45 mins before and the person said she wasnt in her bed BUT it took the next person (checker) to tell her parents

WHY?...and was this true

Reserving judgement on the McCanns, but.......

Holiday camps used to have people patrolling the chalet areas at night. There used to be tannoy announcements 'Baby/child crying in Chalet number...'. Does that still happen? Were the parents bad parents by leaving their children asleep in their room? I'd doubt if they'd actually enter the chalet during their patrol

Even baby monitors wouldn't necessarily pick up unusual noises. At a hotel we stayed at we found that our 4 year old child had been sick in bed. Would the person listening to all the monitors have identified if a 'stranger' had entered the room or assumed that it was a friend and a fractious child?

We do not know for a fact that the little girl's parents were negligent; we were not there.

A patrol did operate in that complex but it seems the group of adults turned that offer down

I didn't really start this thread to discuss the guilt or negligence of the parents.I think that has already been done on here.

What I am interested in is what will happen if she is found safe and well somewhere. If she is with another family,and I hope she is,she will have lived with them longer than she lived with her own family.

Whatever happens now will only lead to more trauma for the poor little girl.

Sadly Sharron the WHOLE topic would have to be looked at

If the parents are guilty of neglect then SHOULD the little girl be given back to them?

If a parent had done this in the UK would the child be given back to the parents ?

And HOW would it be decided and WHO would decide ???

they were clearly negligent for leaving such small children alone and I agree with KempinaPartyhat. the other children referred to were much older and a different case altogether