Police Funding for Madeleine McCann

class had been brought into it on this thread .

Its a local issue here and when I see Mrs McCann in the shops my heart goes out to her. Keep searching I say - as a country we waste money on far less worthy causes.

I think it is simply because she had such an appealing face. And one police officer has probably become fixated on it.

I too think keep searching.

They should have been prosecuted for child neglect and social work should have been involved to judge whether they were fit to be left looking after their other children.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/child-kidnap-and-abduction-increase-as-crimes-come-under-greater-scrutiny-10062014.html

There are regularly cases of kids going missing. They may eventually be found..but not all.

So wrong but if a family with problems and a child in their teens it is assumed they ran away

And even if they did the kid still needs help .

Definately but with some youngsters on drugs and or alcohol, no support at home, not fogetting the children who leave care. There is a shortage of foster parents too.

I do not agree with the criticisms aimed at the McCanns and the unpleasant speculation surrounding their daughter's disappearance.

I quite understand why the McCanns will always wish for resources to be allocated to the search for Madeleine. I think most parents would feel like this. However, I do wonder why this particular case appears to attract more resources than other missing children cases and whether it is really fair that it does so.

Agree with that thought * Eloethan*

As ever, well expressed Eloethan .

Exactly Eloethan.

I have always had an uncomfortable feeling about this case, why were the parents so convinced she was kidnapped ?
Any child can leave by an unlocked door as proved by newspaper articles reporting children wandering streets in pyjamas.
If the McCanns wish to carry on searching that is their right but they must now fund it themselves, in fairness to all the other missing children.

And parents of 12 year old little girls who are subjected to drugs and alcohol should be prosecuted for neglect

Yes Annie they should be.

I feel for Madeleine’s siblings and wonder what their lives have been like since she disappeared.

I hope the siblings don’t blame their parents as many of the public do.

Having a child is the greatest gift a parent can ever receive but also the hardest and most time consuming one. A parent finds their work and social life is especially affected, unless they hire a nanny or babysitter, or unless of course you are like the McCanns and do neither, but just go out and leave your children alone. I do not think Madeleine was kidnapped from her room, why take her when there was a younger sibling? Mrs McCann admits that Madeleine had told them she had woken up the previous night and cried out for them. Of course they didn’t respond they were out enjoying themselves without her. To admit that they knew she had woken and cried out for them and then to go out again the next night is shocking and an act of criminal neglect. To leave a door open, to make it easier to check on her, is NOT looking after her! Madeleine probably woke up and went looking for them. What happened next we will never know. Maybe she was then abducted as she wandered alone looking for them or she fell in one of the many places where work was being done and is buried there. Whatever happened, this poor child was left without anyone to look after her, she was very clearly neglected and so were her siblings.
Perhaps it is guilt that it was THEIR fault this happened, that has made them carry on looking for her for all these years. If only they had paid for someone to look after their children, after all these are well off parents who could easily afford the few pounds needed for this.
The facts are, the children were left alone....
They were not within sight.
They were not within hearing distance.
They knew Madeleine had woken up the night before and had been upset.
The door was left open.
They were out enjoying themselves, only bothering to think about their children periodically.
Their daughter went missing
They do not agree they were being irresponsible.
IF THEY HAD ACTED AS RESPONSIBLE PARENTS NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED.

The issue of 12 year olds being groomed for child sexual exploitation is not the best comparison with parents who leave 3 under 4 year olds in a holiday apartment. I don't want to re-hash the criticism of the McCann's in saying that, I'm sure they've relived the decision they made endlessly and daily.

I'm not going to add to the parents' agony by going into the rights and wrongs of what they did. There but for the grace of God.Perhaps more money has been allocated to follow a specific lead?

maryeliza there was another case of a little British girl who went missing in a German supermarket many years ago, Katrice Lee who was only just 2. The case was re-opened earlier this year and I don't know what progress, if any, has been made since then.

news.sky.com/story/new-search-for-british-girl-katrice-lee-missing-from-germany-since-1981-11357021

The not knowing must be terrible.

perhaps someone else has mentioned this case, I haven't read the whole thread.

I think there is a comparison, child neglect is child neglect, why is allowing a 12 year old girl to be out at night less neglectful than leaving a 4 year old in an apartment in the evening.

What is unfair about this discussion, the children subjected to abuse ? The blame is laid on cut back on resources, police fearing being accused of racism, never any critcism of the parents of the children who allow their daughters to stay out at night even all night .

I remember that case Jalima.

When my daughters were 2, they were either in a pushchair or on reins , should the poor mother of the little one in the NAFI be critcised ?

Sarah Champion was critcised by her party leader for writing an article in a daily newpaper on grooming gangs

Maybe the definition of 'neglect' needs a thread of its own. 12 year olds leave the house in the afternoon, due back for their tea between 5 and 6, fail to return. Parents call their friends, go out looking, child not home by 9 or 10, police are called. Police find child out of her head having sex with multiple males in some dingy place. Police conclude child is 'making life style choice'. No one is arrested or prosecuted.
Parents spend a number of dreadful years, worried out of their minds, trying to involve agencies who are supposed to help them, to no avail.
12 year old girl is now in her 20's and begins to realise she was exploited and abused by the group of men. She goes to the police with her friends and family and a proper investigation follows with the result many men are convicted and imprisoned.
That is what happened with a large number of those 12 year old girls (the boys aren't so willing to talk currently but watch this space)