MI - 3-year-old left behind after his own birthday party; parents realize days later

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed

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Boy left alone at own birthday party

A 3-year-old boy was left alone at his own birthday party, and it took two days before his parents realized he was missing.

The manager of Little Caesars Caesarland in Warren called police at 9 p.m. March 13 when staff members noticed the boy was there with no adults, WDIV reports.

Officers were unable to find the boy's parents who brought him to the restaurant. So the child was taken into protective custody and then placed into foster care.

[snip]

Police said the parents -- a 33-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man -- may be charged with child abandonment and child abuse.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/se_mich/Boy-left-alone-at-own-birthday-party
 
"This is a disturbing and outrageous situation that the person responsible for the care of this 3-year-old child would take over 36 hours before inquiring as to the whereabouts of their child," said Warren Police Chief William Dwyer. "Our detectives will conduct a thorough investigation and then report their findings to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office for criminal prosecution if deemed necessary."

http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12149444
12149444_BG1.jpg
 
The father showed up at Caesarland Monday to get the boy and neither parent contacted police, Dwyer said.

"I've never heard of a situation like this in all my years where you have a birthday party for a 3-year-old and everybody forgets about him," Dwyer said.

The boy was to remain in foster care while the case was reviewed for possible charges by the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. The parents, neither of whom has criminal record, were questioned and released.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010...d-forgotten-at-restaurant/UPI-91791268752132/


I guess since charges haven't been filed yet, maybe this shouldn't be in Crimes in the News? But I still feel that it is a crime.
 
They want back to the restaurant 2 days later and thought the boy would still be there? :snooty:
 
Yet another story that I am just sitting here shaking my head about...
 
may be charged with child abandonment and child abuse.
----

Good grief, if this is not child abandonment, what is? What more do they need to know? They didn't know where he was or who he was with for TWO days.

Buzziecat, I agree. I guess they thought he would just be hanging out, eating pizza, and waiting for mom and dad to grow a brain.
 
Good grief, here we go again. Thank god this child is alive though and hopefully these two people that call themselves parents will be parents no more. Poor little guy.
 
Pretty sad when it turns out he was probably safer and better cared for by the employees at Little Caesar's than with his own parents.
 
Well gee, at least they cared enough to have a party before abandoning him.:mad:
 
There are no words. Forgot about the kid, huh? What did they think when it was time to put the boy to bed? Make him breakfast? Did they think to themselves, "Hm, it sure is quiet around here"? Fantastic.
 
Are the parents divorced and both thought the other one had him?
Even that doesn't make sense, but I am grasping at anything that would explain going back for your kid like a lost cell phone two days later!
 
Are the parents divorced and both thought the other one had him?
Even that doesn't make sense, but I am grasping at anything that would explain going back for your kid like a lost cell phone two days later!

Bold by me - this is the scenario I heard, that each parent thought they had taken him home, and upon the end of the weekend with the child unaccounted for, they backtracked.

Incredibly stupid, but that's what I've heard, FWIW.
 
So was Caesar's Pizza open 24 hours/day? Didn't anyone wonder who the cute little guy hanging out was? Did he ask for food, cuddle up on the booth? It's only by God's grace that some horrible monster didn't happen upon him.

Five of my sons have big black eyes and brown skin like this sweetheart and he just rips at my heartstrings. I'd really like to hear an unbiased gauge of the parents' reaction when they learned the other didn't have him. Were they laissez faire or did their hearts stop? That would tell me a lot.

I remember a few years ago when a toddler boy drowned with the same scenario. Mom thought Auntie had him and Auntie thought Mom had him. I wonder if the fact that the child did not panic points to the fact that his parenting has been lax. Most little kids would freak out and cry and ask for help if they couldn't find Mom or Dad.

While we're waiting for more info, let's make a pledge to double and triple check "who's got the baby?"
 
So was Caesar's Pizza open 24 hours/day? Didn't anyone wonder who the cute little guy hanging out was? Did he ask for food, cuddle up on the booth? It's only by God's grace that some horrible monster didn't happen upon him.

Five of my sons have big black eyes and brown skin like this sweetheart and he just rips at my heartstrings. I'd really like to hear an unbiased gauge of the parents' reaction when they learned the other didn't have him. Were they laissez faire or did their hearts stop? That would tell me a lot.

I remember a few years ago when a toddler boy drowned with the same scenario. Mom thought Auntie had him and Auntie thought Mom had him. I wonder if the fact that the child did not panic points to the fact that his parenting has been lax. Most little kids would freak out and cry and ask for help if they couldn't find Mom or Dad.

While we're waiting for more info, let's make a pledge to double and triple check "who's got the baby?"

He has been in fostercare. The employees called the police when they realized he was alone. He didn't spend two days at the pizza place. But Dad did show up there looking for him.
 
Did they figure the employees had just dumped him in the 'lost and found" box? Or taken him home?

I am, once again, baffled by human behaviour. And really disgusted by what this poor kid must have gone through.

Happy birthday, little guy. :(
 
I don't believe them. Or are there really people who have no contact with their three-year-old kid at all for days at a time? Even if you thought the boy was with Dad or Grandma or Mom, wouldn't you call to say goodnight? Ask how he's doing? Tell someone you'll be out of the house, but if they need you they can reach you at such-and-such a number?

Or am I living in a fantasy world? I just thought people would be more caught up in their kids. When Mr. Mr. E drops Baby Mr. E at daycare (I usually do it), I have to know right away how it went (but that's mainly because when she was tiny he FORGOT and left her in his truck for about 10 minutes at work; it makes my heart stop to this day when I think about it; he was sleep deprived, and now we do this touch-team parenting thing where we're always checking in).
 
Mr. E--Now that I really ponder this case, it makes me think that it's surprising it doesn't happen more often. My husband and I have been together for 37 years and raised our kids together. However, we've had three split-ups among our adult kids. The children are either in a shared custody situation or our adult child has them all the time with an occasional visit from the other parent. My point is that until I was in my 50s, I had no idea how custody stuff worked. I've learned a lot.

I know that there must be as many different ways to handle custody as there are families but I've read Oregon's "parenting plan" formulas and templates over and over. It is very common it seems for the child to have no contact with the other parent while the child is in the custody of one. So, some might call but IME, most don't. You just show up at a prescribed time to pick up or drop off the child.

I've found, in our family, that as the divorce or split moves into the past, the parents are much more likely to get together for birthdays and holidays and it's more natural and far more beneficial for the child. It's nice as we have a really large extended family and all three ex's are comfortable with our whole family. It was really tough in the beginning though. There are couples who refuse to even speak or make eye contact and they sure aren't going to call the other one or even allow the child to call. I find that really sad.

The only way that I'm going to buy this couple's story is if the pick up time was literally set up to be within within minutes of the first contact with the Pizza Place. I also can't figure out why they wouldn't call 911 as no one could be dumb enough (or could they?) to think that the boy would still be there. I also wonder about the comment, "or with the grandmother". People are not communicating. We're not talking about a set of keys here.

Yeah, and how sad. I forgot it was his birthday. Welcome to 3!!
 

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