Parents don't report missing child for TEN years

I wonder how long it had taken him to "wander back" on his previous escapades?

A day? A week? Longer?

When did they decide, "Well, he's not coming back. Ah, well," and NOT call the cops?

He was eleven years old, for crying out loud! You don't let an eleven-year-old wander the streets alone for days. These people have got to be investigated to make sure they didn't actually kill the kid, and then they need to be thrown in jail for some serious, life-threatening neglect.

Cyia said:

what would it have hurt for them to call this time?

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Worst case, the kid gets taken away and put in another home.

Win win (for the awful parents).

Cyia said:

And if they called the police every other time, what would it have hurt for them to call this time?

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Maybe they were afraid the police would bring him back.



And I'm not joking when I say that.

To be honest,

calling the police rarely does any good when it comes to missing children.

just look at the back of any milk cartoon. In their defense, I don't think they are staffed effectively nor have the proper skill set to look for missing children.

The best thing is to issue an Amber Alert within 24hrs of a missing child. In those cases, I think the success rate is actually pretty good.

But otherwise, getting a missing child back (alive) that has been missing for more than a week is akin to getting struck by lightning. Sad to say, but I think the odds are under 1%

anyone know for sure?

Mel...

In my opinion, these people (I hesitate to call them parents) need to be investigated thoroughly. This nonreportage of a missing child plus assuming he was all right strikes me not as a red flag, but a giant red banner leading a giant red parade. I hope I'm not the only one.

I'm more troubled by the assumption that he found one of his siblings or birth parents than the idea that he was possibly a frequent runaway. The whereabouts of an 11-year-old are not something you just assume.

How much of a terror would he have to be for them to worry about his safe return?

darkprincealain said:

In my opinion, these people (I hesitate to call them parents) need to be investigated thoroughly. This nonreportage of a missing child plus assuming he was all right strikes me not as a red flag, but a giant red banner leading a giant red parade. I hope I'm not the only one.

I'm more troubled by the assumption that he found one of his siblings or birth parents than the idea that he was possibly a frequent runaway. The whereabouts of an 11-year-old are not something you just assume.

How much of a terror would he have to be for them to worry about his safe return?

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Despite my posting, you are correct. You still call the police department.

EDIT: Yes, I know only police can issue an amber alert and also, I should have amended my above comment, calling them immediately is the best course of action if your child is missing.

dgiharris said:

To be honest,

calling the police rarely does any good when it comes to missing children.

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A missing child needs to be reported to the police as soon as the child is deemed to be missing. The police will tell you that waiting even one hour to call them is waiting way too long.

dgiharris said:

The best thing is to issue an Amber Alert within 24hrs of a missing child. In those cases, I think the success rate is actually pretty good.

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My understanding of Amber Alerts is that only the police can issue them. Ipso facto ...

Something is quite fishy about this, indeed...we've been catching this on local news each broadcast. Knowing something about the foster and adoption process, it's very strange that they wouldn't have at least contacted their agency, let alone the cops.

Odd side note, my SIL used to live in that same trailer park (well after the kid went missing, though).

But...why did this come to light now?

Did they finaly say, "well, he ain't coming back I guess" finally?

They thought he just found another home? What did they think he was a stray cat?

whistlelock said:

But...why did this come to light now?

Did they finaly say, "well, he ain't coming back I guess" finally?

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That was my first thought, too, because I was assuming the parents were the ones who finally reported him missing. But this:

Murphy's office did not receive a missing persons report until contacted recently by Sedgwick County's exploited and missing children's unit. He declined to say who tipped them off.

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makes me guess that's not the case. Maybe an old neighbor or friend or something. A childhood friend who's now an adult, maybe?

Maybe they figure he's 21 now and so they won't have to take him back no matter what. (joke)

More seriously, the police didn't say who tipped them off. We're left with this scenario where the cops hear that a child went missing ten years ago, they go ask the parents, and the parents say, essentially, "Oh, he ran away. We didn't report it because we were tired of him running off. He probably found somewhere else to live."

They definitely did something criminal here, and I bet that failure to report the missing child wasn't the worst part of it.

He was so quiet; they thought he was just going through a phase.


Ummm, I can't stand being away from my boy overnight. I wonder about these parents. Perhaps they have brain damage.

I thought that the adoptive parents' biological children had tipped them off, based on news reports around here...but that's only what I thought I heard on local news.

Last I checked, at least in Michigan, foster families get money for taking kids in... I hate to say it, but maybe that's part of why they didn't report him missing. The "problem" is gone, and they still get paid, too. How wretched.

Plot Device said:

My understanding of Amber Alerts is that only the police can issue them.

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Clair Dickson said:

Last I checked, at least in Michigan, foster families get money for taking kids in...

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Correct on both accounts...

Cyia said:

He wasn't a foster child at that point. They adopted him.

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Exactly right. Foster payments stop the moment you adopt.