Madeleine's Fund : Leaving No Stone Unturned

Chas

HugoSP wrote: »

Some of you really disgust me.

And people who leave their children alone while they go out to socialise disgust me.

RACHIE77

Interesting post from another forum (yahoo answers) that I just seen:

The article #138 (Portuguese Penal Code) says that it's a crime not to attend children, not providing the necessary "surveillance" regarding children. So, any action that puts a child (or children) at danger/risk, is a crime. This type of crime is punished from 1 year to 5 in Prison, or from 2 to 8 years in prison, if the action is done by parents.

This is not a common type of crime in Portugal, but one Court from Porto (a town in the North) has found a father guilty by leaving a 4 month child, for brief moments, on the street.

If the outcome of action brings the death to the child, the penalty goes from 3 to 10 years or from 2 to 8, if it brings significant physical damage to the victim.

Here is the link for the forum page so you can read it on there.

http://forums.mirror.co.uk/viewtopic.php...

Just looking around i think the general consensus is that people are horrified by what the McCanns did, which its why its ridiculous that the media haven't suggested it at all

Lifeisbutadream

Chas wrote: »

I have a question for all those people who think that Madeleine's parents did NOT do anything wrong in leaving their children alone.

Many people (police included) are assuming that Madeleine has been abducted. What if Madeleine hasn't been abducted? What if she woke up, left the apartment to find her parents, wandered to the beach & was drowned? (or some other accident befell her)

What if there is no abductor and Madeleine has died as a result of being left alone? Would you still think Madeleine's parents didn't do anything wrong?

I cant only speak for myself, but from the beginning of all of this I have been against the posts who feel the need to show themselves as the 'good parent' and the McCanns as the 'bad parents'.

They are going through the worst hell imaginable at the moment and not one of us on here could even begin to imagine how they are feeling, or how we would act in that situation, because we just do not know (and lets hope that none of us ever find out).

I do not see how ANYONE at this stage can say whether the parents were right or wrong? whats the point? surely at this stage the only important issue is finding Madeleine. After that point, then maybe address what actually happened, but I dont see how any of us can be judge or jury?

Whats the point is speculating what could have happened and whether anyone would then blame the parents??

full-time-mum

jw1096 wrote: »

I think i may have been misunderstood - my regardless of the person that had/has Madeline was in order to highlight the parents actions. Of course, there is a criminal that needs to be found and strung up by the neck for the actions that have been committed, however, the parents actions gave this person an easy job in abducting her. The intent of the parents was to leave the children alone in a foreign country in order to socialise. If there was no intent to leave the children alone and this had been a pure accident (like when a child goes missing while supervised - a la Jamie Bulger for instance), then I would perhaps be more sympathetic to their current plight.

I also feel the media, by not making an issue out of the parents actions, are possibly doing us all a disservice. They appear to be condoning the parents actions, implied by thier relative silence. How many times will this happen if leaving your kids alone is not made an issue? Some (granted, not many) would be inclined to believe that it is ok to leave children unsupervised, when it clearly isnt.

Jo x

well put.

Our hearts go out to the family but we shouldn't overlook the other side.

full-time-mum

EagerLearner wrote: »

Yes they can and so they should - just because a tourist couple have had this terrible event happen, why should the Portuguese people change their own way of lives or become less trusting? It will make them think more about the types of tragic crimes that seem to occur alot in other countries (of course Portugal has crimes, but rarely this sort of thing), and it will also make them think more about the amount of money other counties have to support one lost child, when they have orphanages full of kids that get no attention whatsoever.

I believe that, unfotunatley, they can't. The world is not a nice place. No-one is saying that they shouldn't invite the tourists and their money but it is at a price and they are going to have to find a balance between bringing in an income and maintaining their lifestyle. Lets hope that this type of crime remains rare but at the same time, the locals would do well to become a little more worldly.

full-time-mum

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

I cant only speak for myself, but from the beginning of all of this I have been against the posts who feel the need to show themselves as the 'good parent' and the McCanns as the 'bad parents'.

They are going through the worst hell imaginable at the moment and not one of us on here could even begin to imagine how they are feeling, or how we would act in that situation, because we just do not know (and lets hope that none of us ever find out).

I do not see how ANYONE at this stage can say whether the parents were right or wrong? whats the point? surely at this stage the only important issue is finding Madeleine. After that point, then maybe address what actually happened, but I dont see how any of us can be judge or jury?

Whats the point is speculating what could have happened and whether anyone would then blame the parents??

I don't disagree with any of what you are saying. However, I think it is dangerous for it to be continually implied that leaving children alone in an apartment is acceptable. The fact that the parents are intelligent, professional people from the health sector makes them a kind of role model to those parents who are less qualified, less educated and social able.

Lifeisbutadream

full-time-mum wrote: »

I don't disagree with any of what you are saying. However, I think it is dangerous for it to be continually implied that leaving children alone in an apartment is acceptable. The fact that the parents are intelligent, professional people from the health sector makes them a kind of role model to those parents who are less qualified, less educated and social able.

I dont believe that anyone implied that it is OK to leave children alone. We dont know the situation, we were not there.

Your suggesting that it is OK to condemn them, because then it will teach other, less educated parents not to leave their children alone?

I feel very uncomfortable, reading comments about how the other children should be taken away from the McCanns, how they are neglectful parents, how they are smiling and should be crying, how they are selfish drunks for going to a tapas bar on holiday, how they have no right to a fund, that they should sell their house and everything they own and use their own money... I could go on.

emmaroids

Lifeisbutadream wrote: »

the other children should be taken away from the McCanns, how they are neglectful parents, how they are smiling and should be crying, how they are selfish drunks for going to a tapas bar on holiday, how they have no right to a fund, that they should sell their house and everything they own and use their own money... I could go on.

all true tbh

Errata

It seems that when this kind of event happens which is totally outside the experience of just about everyone, it polarises opinion. The media at this point won't comment about parenting practices as their consumers would come down on them like a ton of bicks. I don't think any of the media has carried interviews with the family's friends, neighbours, colleagues emphasising how superbly the children have been parented, which might be the media's way of staying neutral in a story which raises high emotions and opinions amongst many.

Lifeisbutadream

emmaroids wrote: »

all true tbh

Thats exactly the point I am making.

How could anyone feel comfortable saying those things about 2 people who have lost their daughter?

It actually makes me feel sick. It is inhumane to wish further suffering on someone who is about as low as they could possibly get.