NH - 9 Year Old Twins Left Alone in Apartment for months 1/23/15

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loveisthemovement

loveisthemovement

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/living/twins-left-home-alone-for-months/index.html

Giobari Atura told police he agreed to watch his brother and sister-in-law's twin boys while the couple traveled to Nigeria in July, but instead of moving into the apartment, Atura said he checked on the children three days a week.

The children told officials who were called to the home that they would "wake for school on their own, get ready for school, get on the bus and eat breakfast and lunch at school," according to the affidavit.
 
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2922052/Cops-Twins-9-left-months-parents-abroad.html

He said he checked on the boys three days a week and told them to call him if they needed anything.

"It should be noted that no operable phone was located within the apartment," the affidavit says.

Disgusting. And no one from their own family even called them for 4 months ?

:moo:

And yet they managed to get themselves to school. Smh.
Poor boys ! :(
 
When I first saw the headline earlier today I thought it said 9 month old twins left alone. I was actually relieved to see that they were 9 years old. Not that leaving them alone wasn't horrible, but at least they were able to take care of themselves to a point. I need my eyes checked! What was the uncle thinking, and what were the parents thinking?!!
 
A real-life “Home Alone” story of twin 9-year-old brothers in New Hampshire who managed to basically take care of themselves for a third of a year is in part a case of child endangerment, but also, upon closer inspection, a stunning tale of childhood ingenuity.

Few would agree with decisions made by the boys’ uncle, who told police he’d stop by every few days while the parents were on a trip in Africa. The parents, Jerusalem and Catherine Monday, left the United States in July, expecting to return in August. But they were delayed in Nigeria for another three months...

While authorities at first wondered whether the parents had been neglectful, it soon became clear, according to the affidavit, that the problem was that the uncle had reneged on a promise to move in with the children for the duration of their parents’ absence.
Click to expand...
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Societ...-home-alone-for-120-days-How-did-they-survive
 
I read i too a read as 9 year old twins :blushing:but 9 years old is just as despicable. It is frightening how these people treat their children. I hope this person gets punished and there's a lot of unanswered questions here.
 
I'm making an opinion call here, but IMO, it's possible that this family (parents and the adult Uncle) are relatively recent immigrants from Nigeria or another African country. If so, it is not uncommon for immigrants to continue patterns of behavior here that are acceptable in their country of origin, and not realize how inappropriate those same actions might be in this country and culture.

I'm not excusing the behavior, but these kinds of "misunderstandings" have happened in immigrant communities in our state. Often immigrant communities have different ideas about the maturity of children to care for themselves and younger siblings, than are acceptable in the U.S.

It's the perennial argument over "too protective" versus "too lenient". The former is viewed by some immigrants as preventing children from becoming more independent and growing up, and child care for 9 year olds is non-existent in much of the world. It may have seemed perfectly reasonable to the parents to arrange the uncle to look in on the twins every day or so. We view 9 year olds alone for days on end as negligence and abandonment. This is very confusing to many immigrants, particularly immigrants from very poor, developing countries.
 
LietKynes said:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2922052/Cops-Twins-9-left-months-parents-abroad.html

He said he checked on the boys three days a week and told them to call him if they needed anything.

"It should be noted that no operable phone was located within the apartment," the affidavit says.

Disgusting. And no one from their own family even called them for 4 months ?

:moo:

And yet they managed to get themselves to school. Smh.
Poor boys ! :(
Click to expand...

They got themselves to school because the school was feeding them breakfast and lunch. They had no phone in which to contact the uncle or their parents. No tv to watch because the cable was cut off. No food in the apartment. These things are the responsibility of parents to provide. What parent can afford to take even a month off work to go to another country? There is much more to this story, imo. I'm not buying the excuse of illness and passport problems.
 
The illness and passport problems seemed to have resolved themselves rather conveniently. I wonder what the kids did for meals on weekends or during the summer when there was no school. Would they have winter clothing if the parents left in July? It's truly bizarre. I hope the CAS keeps an eye on the boys.
 
loveisthemovement said:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/22/living/twins-left-home-alone-for-months/index.html

Giobari Atura told police he agreed to watch his brother and sister-in-law's twin boys while the couple traveled to Nigeria in July, but instead of moving into the apartment, Atura said he checked on the children three days a week.


The children told officials who were called to the home that they would "wake for school on their own, get ready for school, get on the bus and eat breakfast and lunch at school," according to the affidavit.
Click to expand...

I don't think the parents should be completely off the hook for this. In four months time surely they called the uncle to see how the twins were doing. Didn't they ask to speak to their kids even once? They're 9 y/o and able to hold a conversation with an adult. Since there was no operable phone and the uncle was supposed to stay in their apartment with the boys how were the parents going to get in touch with the uncle while they were away?

I agree the uncle is primarily at fault but either the parents aren't fessing up about how much they knew about the living arrangements or they are totally clueless and my bet is on the latter. ALL JMO
 
wendybtn said:
The parents only talked to the uncle on phone calls. They were reunited with the parents after a brief stay in a foster home.
Click to expand...

Children roam the streets in packs armed with hockey sticks and also shoot bucks? Blimey! I thought we had a bad rap here in London.

These two boys sound absolutely wonderful and resourceful, they had no choice! Am I the only one that thinks it may have been a good thing the cable TV was disconnected?
 
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