Found Child Alert (Unidentified)
Posted on 05/19/2004 9:38:18 AM PDT by Johnny Gage
Wednesday May 19, 2004 BALTIMORE (AP) Authorities appealed to the public to identify an abandoned 3-year-old girl who says her name is Courtney, she's from Brooklyn and she wants her mommy.
The little girl was found May 5 when the father dropped her off with a stranger at an unknown location in Baltimore, Sue Fitzsimmons, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Social Services, said Monday. He said he was leaving to cash a money order, but he never returned and the stranger called police.
The child told authorities she is from Brooklyn, N.Y. She said she and her father had been living in a Baltimore warehouse.
The girl has been in foster care since she was found. Fitzsimmons said Monday that if Courtney's relatives do not come forward to claim her, she will be permanently placed with a family in Baltimore.
``We want to do everything we can to find out who she is,'' Fitzsimmons said. ``We hope someone is looking for her.''
In New York, police Sgt. Kevin Hays said Wednesday that the NYPD had no leads at this time on the girl's identity. He said Baltimore authorities continued to investigate.
At Monday's news conference, Courtney played with toys and posed for pictures wearing a black-and-white summer outfit, her hair in neat cornrows.
When a reporter asked her a question, she wept and said: ``I want my mommy.''
With that, Fitzsimmons picked her up, and the news conference ended. The girl was also featured Wednesday on NBC's ``Today.''
EDITOR'S NOTE Officials asked anyone with information about Courtney or her family to call the Department of Social Services at (410) 361-2235.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
I checked the website out and can't believe that they didn't provide a picture with the article.
A picture might be nice.
Good Lord! The father abandons her with a stranger and the mother hasn't come forward in two weeks? Even if the mother is under the impression that the father is supposed to be looking after her, who wouldn't have spoken (on the phone)to the child during that amount of time? Maybe mommy's a crack ho and doesn't realize what day it is?
It's possible the mother has come forward, but without a pic of the kid it'll be harder to determine which missing child from Brooklyn she is.
The local PD in brooklyn may not have sent the missing child alert out further than their local area yet, teh ball may have been dropped, or she's been missing from Brooklyn longer than two weeks and the alert is listed as 'old' by now.
Maybe mommy's dead, and daddy knows what happened.
If her mother's not looking for her, she's better off with a new family.
They better be sure she means Brooklyn, NY... there is a Brooklyn Park right outside of Baltimore (to the south) and she just might be confused.
Poor little kid. Forget searching for the mother. Write off the father. This kid needs a brand new start with a family that will take care of her.
And from the pictures it looks like her hair has been done recently. I doubt dad did it. Someone, somewhere is going to come forward with info, even if it isn't mom.
I agree. Let's hope nobody recognizes her. She deserves better than that.
Ack, I hadn't thought of that. An even worse scenario. :-/
Poor little girl. I just can't imagine people being so evil and irresponsible with a little one.
If my guess is right, the father could have done much worse by her.
What's wrong with dropping off with a stranger? If we would only raise minimum wage noone would be strange anymore. This is Bushfault.
Sort of the opposite of an Amber Alert?
Heartbreaking. What a pretty little girl, too. I shudder to think what she's seen in her life. And what it's done to her.
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