![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This is a shit story
Jun. 24th, 2013 10:13 amYesterday we went to the Moonlight Sanctuary (during the day) to go feed the wallabies, see the koalas etc. It's a sort of a wide open area, not very big at all. The pathway goes around in a large loop, and that morning there were a few families there and a birthday party group.
We went into the section with the wallabies, where there is a lot of scrub, so you can't see across the top of the trees (though the trees are quite short), though there's a very clear pathway and it's not very long and we started to feed some of the animals. I noticed a couple of kids come in behind us, but we had walked around the bend in the path and they were out of sight.
Suddenly we heard a wail, and a little 4 year old girl came up behind us, and then ran back the other way down the path. We could hear her crying and we figured she probably got separated from her family. I didn't really think twice about it, but 5-10-15 seconds later we could still hear her crying, just... further away.
Adam decided to go see if she was okay, make sure she hadn't stumbled into a body of water or something and maybe go find her parents.
We continued to feed some animals while we waited.
Adam took ages. He finally came back and said that the parents were nowhere to be found and he had to take the little girl all the way back to the front office. What. How could your little girl go missing for more than 20 seconds without you noticing? How, after 10 minutes are you not also at the front office trying to get help looking for her? Maybe she was part of the birthday party and someone forgot?
An hour later, we were looking at some owls, and one of the staff members was walking the little girl around, still trying to find these parents. She was not part of the birthday party.
When we were leaving, the little girl was sitting in the front office, doing some colouring. I can't think of any other scenario except that her parents took her to the sanctuary and then dumped her. Adam said that she said she came in with her parents. I'm trying to think of best case scenarios and I can't think of any.
Adam was so upset at this point he went to talk to the office lady and he doesn't talk to anyone if he can help it. The office lady seemed really nonchalant and Adam was all 'are you going to call the police? what's going to happen??' and she just sort of nodded.
It never occurred to me that the little girl would be in need of real help. Little girl lost in a place like that, I assume straight away that the parents are in some sort of 10m radius, there's nowhere else to go! It's not like a playground or a shopping centre.
I was treated to an Adam rant on the way home about shit parents, how they create shit people and the little girl has no chance in life now. I didn't really register much of it.. Adam wondering whether they dumping her permanently or whether they went to play slot machines or something. My SIL thought that the girl seemed used to it. I thought she sounded proper distraught.
Anyway it didn't really hit me until I was in bed last night and I just couldn't stop crying. Like I just don't understand why the little girl was left at the sanctuary of all places?! Did they think she would have fun there? Did they desperately need a drug hit while they were there? Was it a Hansel and Gretel situation? She was the dearest little girl. I wanted to take her home and clear out a room and keep her forever. How can people do this? How can this happen? Where are all our support systems?
I'm still upset about the times when my parents were 10 minutes late picking me up from school and I was the last one waiting. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS AT ALL.
We went into the section with the wallabies, where there is a lot of scrub, so you can't see across the top of the trees (though the trees are quite short), though there's a very clear pathway and it's not very long and we started to feed some of the animals. I noticed a couple of kids come in behind us, but we had walked around the bend in the path and they were out of sight.
Suddenly we heard a wail, and a little 4 year old girl came up behind us, and then ran back the other way down the path. We could hear her crying and we figured she probably got separated from her family. I didn't really think twice about it, but 5-10-15 seconds later we could still hear her crying, just... further away.
Adam decided to go see if she was okay, make sure she hadn't stumbled into a body of water or something and maybe go find her parents.
We continued to feed some animals while we waited.
Adam took ages. He finally came back and said that the parents were nowhere to be found and he had to take the little girl all the way back to the front office. What. How could your little girl go missing for more than 20 seconds without you noticing? How, after 10 minutes are you not also at the front office trying to get help looking for her? Maybe she was part of the birthday party and someone forgot?
An hour later, we were looking at some owls, and one of the staff members was walking the little girl around, still trying to find these parents. She was not part of the birthday party.
When we were leaving, the little girl was sitting in the front office, doing some colouring. I can't think of any other scenario except that her parents took her to the sanctuary and then dumped her. Adam said that she said she came in with her parents. I'm trying to think of best case scenarios and I can't think of any.
Adam was so upset at this point he went to talk to the office lady and he doesn't talk to anyone if he can help it. The office lady seemed really nonchalant and Adam was all 'are you going to call the police? what's going to happen??' and she just sort of nodded.
It never occurred to me that the little girl would be in need of real help. Little girl lost in a place like that, I assume straight away that the parents are in some sort of 10m radius, there's nowhere else to go! It's not like a playground or a shopping centre.
I was treated to an Adam rant on the way home about shit parents, how they create shit people and the little girl has no chance in life now. I didn't really register much of it.. Adam wondering whether they dumping her permanently or whether they went to play slot machines or something. My SIL thought that the girl seemed used to it. I thought she sounded proper distraught.
Anyway it didn't really hit me until I was in bed last night and I just couldn't stop crying. Like I just don't understand why the little girl was left at the sanctuary of all places?! Did they think she would have fun there? Did they desperately need a drug hit while they were there? Was it a Hansel and Gretel situation? She was the dearest little girl. I wanted to take her home and clear out a room and keep her forever. How can people do this? How can this happen? Where are all our support systems?
I'm still upset about the times when my parents were 10 minutes late picking me up from school and I was the last one waiting. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS AT ALL.
