Bringing lost chicks back home to their nests

[hadassahchana[$]]

Do you know how long it takes for your life to pass before your eyes? Well, if you were trying to comb out your hair after a shower, stay wrapped in your bath towel, find your clean panties while running back toward your own room and suddenly you slipped down the stairs toward your startled guests (luckily keeping the towel in place) who quickly decide to let you play through, the answer would be " Just long enough to realize how funny this is going to be after I blog it".

Do you know how long it takes for your life to pass before your eyes when you first hear that one of your children is missing? Approximately 2 seconds. The same time it takes to gulp in a huge breath of air, the one that feels like the last one you'll ever be able to draw. It's possible for you to remember everything about them from the first damp touch of their tiny hand in yours to the most recent incident involving recycling stinky socks earlier in the day in less time than it takes to dial 911.

Last night, #3 was lost. He went to the fireworks with a family friend and became separated from him. This story has a happy ending, before your stomach follows mine into knots even thinking about it. Last night, I learned that:


1.Our local police know a lot about children with autism spectrum disorders – they prioritized the search for him based on this. They also knew what to do in terms of not touching him, not scaring him, etc. They get highest marks in my book.

2.Family and friends will walk through fire to make things ok again. One of Helen’s sons gave up his plans with his friends for the evening in order to look for #3. He’s the one who found him, then found #’s 2 and 4 and marched them all back home while telling them (semi) dirty jokes. They adore him, and so do I.

3.Even after a chick is returned to the nest, its mother will stay awake for at least 24 hours in order to ensure that the chick is still sleeping safely in bed with his collie lying across his legs, clutching his new comic-book drawing kit tightly in sleeping little hands.


Last night was probably one of the worst of my entire life, and #3 was only missing for 3 hours. I didn’t even know he was missing for the first hour or so, and that hour we waited for someone to find him was as close to unbearable as I ever want to get. Which is how we get to the real point of this blog: I got to wake up from my short nightmare. Madeleine McCann’s parents haven’t.


Madeleine has been missing since 3 May of this year. When I first heard of the tragedy I was too quick to point out that her parents had left her alone in their holiday apartment. That wasn’t kind, and I regret doing so. Since Madeleine’s abduction, her parents have turned over heaven and earth to get their little daughter back. They’ve raised money to fund their search, they’ve gotten the support of some really big names in the news – like Beckham, Simon Cowell, J.K. Rowling – and have met with the Pope and with world leaders, all to raise awareness of Madeleine’s case and to get her back home again.

Last week, I followed all of the stories about Madeleine’s 50th day missing, and I cried with most of the other mothers around the world who’ve been praying for her. This week, I scared ten years off my life by losing a little one just for a few hours. I am not going to claim that now I understand how the McCanns feel – I don’t. I can’t begin to imagine something that awful. I got to check on #3 all night long, and this morning I got to listen to him complain that all of the best cereal is gone. Madeleine’s parents haven’t had that good luck. Yet. However, they have set up a website as part of their massive search, and you can see pictures of little Madeleine on it:






Find Madeleine





This morning I ordered some Madeleine bracelets. When they arrive, I hope they will be useless and that Madeleine will be back home before those yellow rings arrive here. I hope that somehow the McCanns manage to make their own miracle and that their daughter will come back home to complain about the cereal in her house.I hope that none of you ever get to have even a tiny peek into that hell. And I also hope that if you should ever catch a glimpse of me plowing down my stairs toward you, bath towel flapping in the wind, you’ll kindly step aside.

[emeleel]

[mtomm[$]]

Ugh. So glad it is all okay.

I lost my boys for 10 min once. Hell. on. earth.

[theworm[$]]

I'm so happy that your story has a happy ending.

As for Little Madelaine - I've heard her story on the news, but when I clicked the website, saw her beautiful photos and heard that song, I burst into tears - then I hit the donate now button.

[hadassahchana[$]]

Which is why I love you so much. And now I'm crying again.

[lynnzop[$]]

I'm so glad your story has a happy ending, Cindy. I think most of us have experienced the temporary hell of having a missing child, and even for a few minutes it's a feeling like no other.

Madeline is in my prayers, and I hope those bracelets are useless when they arrive as well. 50 days missing. I just can't imagine.

[emeleel]

Interestingly enough, I just now read a CNN article that says two people have been picked up, possibly in connection with this case:

2 arrested*in snatched girl case - CNN.com

[theworm[$]]

After reading the article, I really hope they had nothing to do with Madelaines case and were just trying to scam the money. She's such a beautiful little girl and the thought of her with a "child torturer" is just unbearable.

I hope that they find her somewhere unharmed.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Cindy, I'm glad you have #3 back.

And re: Madeline, I'm sorry, it hits a nerve - it's too much like Natalie Holloway vs. my husband's godson. THOUSANDS of children go missing every day. The cute ones and the ones whose parents know how to work the media get the attention. While I certainly hope they get their daughter back, I can't help but shake my head that people around the world will drop **everything** for one cute child missing from the other side of the world, and who probably don't know jack squat about the young teenager one town over who ran away from home two weeks ago or the young (generally, and perhaps coincidentally, non-white) children who are taken from their parents into slavery in sweat shops. And it's the latter two cases where one's time and money are more apt to have a direct effect on a happy ending, but those aren't fun stories for the media to spotlight and so no one hears about them. [/bitter gripe]

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Pick your state from a drop-down, see how many kids are missing from your area. UNICEF and other international organizations have information on child slavery and child trafficking. There's many organizations and parents who would appreciate your help.

[lynnzop[$]]

I searched on Iowa for the last year. Two girls, and neither from anywhere near here.

Nebraska, two girls from the Omaha area. I don't remember hearing about either one. One white, one possibly Hispanic.

We just don't have kids go missing here. And when they do, it makes the news generally. I can't tell you how many times the 10:00 news opens up with a "child missing" story (and fortunately, they are almost always found safe a few hours later).

[hadassahchana[$]]

I also looked, and the number was low. Many would be in their forties now. Almost all the rest were in their late teens when they disappeared. That doesn't mean it isn't bad, but when a toddler goes missing from her parents' apartment, it is news. It's terrible. I'm glad they are media-savvy enough to mount this campaign, because while raising awareness of their own plight they also make public appearances with other parents of missing children in every country they visit. They are also donating some of their money raised to the Child Exploitation Centre to help bring other children home. I really do think that the media being kept involved in this is going to help the general cause to bring home missing kids.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Must just be a New York State thing then - we have 30 kids under 20 years old who have gone missing in just the past year. But still, if you're going to donate to a cause, check it out with an independent site first before clicking "Donate." Unless this family has had time to set up a foundation with an independent board and such, you have *no clue* where the money is really going as they're unlikely to be filing an annual report.

[Prepoia[$]]

mjfrombuffalo said

Cindy, I'm glad you have #3 back.

And re: Madeline, I'm sorry, it hits a nerve - it's too much like Natalie Holloway vs. my husband's godson. THOUSANDS of children go missing every day. The cute ones and the ones whose parents know how to work the media get the attention. While I certainly hope they get their daughter back, I can't help but shake my head that people around the world will drop **everything** for one cute child missing from the other side of the world, and who probably don't know jack squat about the young teenager one town over who ran away from home two weeks ago or the young (generally, and perhaps coincidentally, non-white) children who are taken from their parents into slavery in sweat shops. And it's the latter two cases where one's time and money are more apt to have a direct effect on a happy ending, but those aren't fun stories for the media to spotlight and so no one hears about them. [/bitter gripe]

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Pick your state from a drop-down, see how many kids are missing from your area. UNICEF and other international organizations have information on child slavery and child trafficking. There's many organizations and parents who would appreciate your help.

Yep.

[frazzledspice]

I'm so glad you found #3!

I am grateful for improvements in technology that make it easier for us to find our children (you can even buy sneakers with GPS in them--I think they cost $600 but I am sure the price will come down as they become more common.) I don't think I'd get $600 sneakers unless I had a special concern (a parent with Alzheimer's, a child with a disability...) but I'm glad they're available.

Cell phones make it so easy to touch base with our children, particularly for working parents.

In places like malls that have surveillance cameras, the network of cameras can pinpoint the moment of disappearance, the direction the child went in, whether he was with someone, and, hopefully, the license plate of the car he went into. The network of surveillance cameras can support the team of searchers on foot, scanning for the child on video.

Still, there are dangers out there, perhaps more than in the past, and it is always a worry when a child wanders off.

[lynnzop[$]]

I am grateful for improvements in technology that make it easier for us to find our children (you can even buy sneakers with GPS in them--I think they cost $600 but I am sure the price will come down as they become more common.) I don't think I'd get $600 sneakers unless I had a special concern (a parent with Alzheimer's, a child with a disability...) but I'm glad they're available.

That scares the hell out of me.

[pippadaisy[$]]

I'm with MJ on this one. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't leave my kids alone in their own house when I walk Beanie to the bus stop that's four houses away. She's cute, she's little, and she's missing because her parents left her alone. Why aren't we paying this much attention to runaways who end up as prostitutes or worse, or non-custodial abductions or kids who arent' blonde and pretty?

[theworm[$]]

Um...
there are way too many missing kids, and I wish we could find all of them.
Cindy told a scary story about #3, and then told about a missing child. The fact that there are hundreds of other missing children doesn't make this case any less sad or any less worthy of our attention. Are there a lot of kids that need more attention and more of our awareness? Sure! Yes - lets try and save them all, but lets not forget about this little girl just because she's cute and in the news. Lets try and get them all back home safe and sound.

[Leslie2k]

thank you wormie

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Hey, just following the majority vote here... Yes, we want all of them back safe and sound. And because of my field, I am exposed to more knowledge of the day-to-day missing child incidents and the rest of you are not, so I'm more sensitive to the topic and I'm aware of that. I am trying to say that perhaps channeling one's concern for missing children into action on a local level, or through an established agency, would very likely do more for more missing children than donating to a fund collecting millions internationally for one child ("leftover" money to go elsewhere) and including

3.1.3 To provide support, including financial assistance, to Madeleine’s family.

I've seen far too much money wasted in cause celebres when there are reputable agencies doing excellent work that get short shrift.

[theworm[$]]

MJ, I totally understand and agree, and I don't want to stop the discussion - I just think that a more general discussion about how to bring attention to more kids might be better suited to Current Events than this thread.