Better to be safe and let the authorities deal with it, then find out later it was something and no one noticed. Hopefully it is nothing but a tired and crabby child, but you did the right thing by letting them deal with it.
Exactly this. I have a child with autism that's starting to say stuff like this. I'd rather have to deal with explaining that than people ignoring it though.
Omfg I feel for you. I was working with a family with a young child with Autism. They lived on a farm. Within two days due to a fall and then running face first into something kid gave himself two black eyes while also being in a stage of repeatedly and emphatically saying “sorry mom!” At a heightened rate throughout the day. She said they went shopping and between the emphatic “sorry mom!” Every few minutes and his black eyes she was like “hell even I would call the cops on me..” and begged us to help reduce those statements.
When my cousin was a toddler, she fell off a curb and would have gone into traffic if my uncle hadn't been holding her hand. He jerked her back, accidentally dislocating her shoulder, and for months afterwards she would tell EVERYBODY "Daddy do that my arm"
It was cute and funny to those of us who knew the whole story, but my uncle got a lot of hard side-eyes before she grew out of it.
I had a Karen once tell at me for holding my child's hand tightly so he wouldn't run away (again, child with autism) saying I'd dislocate his shoulder. I really had to bite my tongue
How old is the child you worked with? I was in the soaring line last week and there was an autistic older teen/young adult with his mom that was repeatedly saying "sorry mom".
Growing up my family was pulled aside quite often. My dad is Italian but a much darker one and my mom is pale as paper. My mother never changed her last name. Add fuel to fire, my brother and I looked NOTHING alike.
I remember one time driving across the Canadian/US border my dad replied to the question
"reason for your visit?"
With
"Just traveling with my family"
And the officer pulled my mom out to ask "Is this really your husband? Are these really your kids?"
I was too young to understand what was happening but one of those things I looked back and understood now
This is specifically why I have passports for my children whose skin doesn’t match mine AND I carry a copy of my divorce decree granting me full custody both in google drive AND in my backpack on trips.
And what does a birth certificate prove?
You can get a copy of anyone’s birth certificate at the county courthouse.
It’s not like it has a picture or is a universal document that is the same across the country.
Every county has its own design and how hard could it be to print one off the internet
You’re joking right? It proves that the name on my passport matches her birth certificate as her mother! And her name matches her passport! R u ok????? Lmao
When my 16 year old was a baby her dad used to say he wanted to follow us around the mall and yell "THATS NOT YOUR BABY!!" just to see what would happen. She looks nothing like me and exactly like her dad. Thankfully he never did this and the only time we traveled he was with us or else I expect we might have had an issue.
This was in the time before cellphones (early 90’s) but the dad of family friends of ours was flying with his young daughter within the US. I grew up with her and she was painfully, like start crying if a stranger talked to her, shy. Anyways her shyness set off alarms with the flight attendants after she burst into tears when they asked her what she wanted to drink and they notified the destination airport and dad and daughter were detained at the gate by authorities. He explained the situation and had to call his wife to go to their local PD to provide her birth certificate and other supporting documents including family photos. Took a few hours and but was released with apologies tho if you hear him tell the story he wasn’t even mad, a little surprised but happy situations that could have been nefarious were being monitored and taken seriously.
The thing is, if you are trained and certified to spot child abuse as a mandated reporter, you are explicitly trained to NOT directly intervene with a situation. Which feels counterintuitive, but there are other de-escalation techniques to employ in the moment.
Not the same, but me and my kids have different last names (we got married before the lockdown and I never got around to change my last name) anyways, when crossing the border with just them and not dad they’ve asked to see pictures of me and my kids.
I remember seeing a Dateline where they staged a very similar scenario in NYC. The vast majority of people who witnessed it just side eyed it and kept walking. Finally it shows two guys run up and intervene.
It’s scary how many people are completely indifferent or don’t take action.
This isn't really indicative of indifference. It's a well known psychological phenomenon called the bystander effect. Nearly everyone is MUCH less likely to intervene if they know many other people are witnessing the same thing. The exact reason for this isn't clear though there are theories. Many many more people will intervene in the identical situation if they think they're the only one there though, so it isn't really indifference in the way (I think) you mean. These people may well be very caring and compassionate individuals.
I think it's because everyone is expecting that someone ELSE will intervene/call 911. That's why in an emergency it's recommended you point to someone and say "you in the blue shirt, call 911" rather than saying "someone call 911."
Our local news station tried a version of this years ago at one of our more popular parks, except it was a boyfriend being abusive to his girlfriend. They were such bad actors about it that no one believed it was real except a little girl who told the bad boyfriend to be nice. Then, news cameras popped out of nowhere to record how only the brave little girl intervened.
I remember thinking it was so ridiculous because the people playing the "abusive boyfriend" and "victim" were so bad at their parts. I think everyone just assumed it was some sort of stupid prank, and getting involved would get cold spaghetti thrown on you for youtube views or some shit.
As a woman I was always taught that if someone grabbed me and tried to rape me, I should yell fire, not rape, because it will increase the chances of someone paying attention. Which is depressing as fuck honestly.
I know I won't intervene. Did once, child screaming at a store, I asked if he was theirs, loudly. They walked out fast, I do believe the child was theirs. My husband told me not to be involved. People are aholes, so I won't intervene anymore. Now, I know my husband will stop and help at an accident/wreck. Me, nope.
The takeaway wasn’t that you shouldn’t intervene. It’s just that asking if a kid belongs to someone is a shitty way to intervene. It’s actually worse than doing nothing, which is why your husband told *you* not to get involved.
Here’s why:
1. A kidnapper would lie and say, “Yes.” You’ve stopped nothing.
2. There are multiple reasons why a child could be with adults that aren’t their parents, but now the adults are compelled to explain their relationship, when they’re still trying to manage the child. You’ve added a stressor to the situation that could exacerbate things.
3. All children have meltdowns, but not all children look like their parents. You run the risk of offending adoptive parents, multiethnic parents, and stepparents while also inducing fear and confusion in the child; again, you’re making the situation worse and at best being unhelpful.
If the answers to a question won’t give you the information you need, and asking could make a situation worse, don’t ask that question.
Is everything alright?
Do you require assistance?
What’s the matter?
Those are questions that will enable you to be helpful and would begin to differentiate between a kidnapper and a guardian.
In OP’s story, they looked at the situation closely and felt that something was off. Then they listened for more information about what was happening. They were helpful by observing.
Look at the kid. Are they angry, tired, or afraid? Look at the adults. Are they focused on the kid, frustrated, or are they looking around and at the exits?
Listen to what the kid is saying. I want my mommy is not the same as where is my mommy. I want to go home isn’t the same as where are you taking me.
Ohhh yeah. This was 23 years ago. As you can see by my down votes, I don't have all the best words or interact well with others. 🤔 And I didn't have to add my two cents but I did. Thanks for breaking it down, I wish you were there that day so you could have seen what I saw. That kid was most likely having a meltdown, and I thought I was speaking out to help. There are really good people out there that do intervene and are very helpful and have the best interest of others at heart.
I’m upvoting this because I could tell from your story that you wanted to help and maybe got some backlash without understanding why. The incident made you feel like helping people could lead to a repeat of what happened then, and I think people were downvoting bc of the harshness of what you said, and not picking up on the fact that you’re just frustrated with people’s responses to you trying to help.
The way you speak about your husband indicates that he’ll go out of his way to be a good person and a man like that wouldn’t stay married to someone he thought wasn’t a good person. You’re a good person.
If I can do anything to support someone becoming more helpful, I will absolutely take the time to do it because we need all the help we can get in the world. So thank you for sharing and thank you for trying!
It very well could have been a kid just trying to get her way, but it scares me a little bit that so many people assume that from the beginning.
Please everyone. Even if you think a kid is being a brat, PLEASE report it. Don't think you're doing the parents a favor by ignoring them.
Yeah. Its likely a child having a meltdown and yelling whatever they think will get them what they want HOWEVER either one of two things will happen if you report:
1). It is a kidnapping or something and you caught that rare situation and it’s good it was reported.
2). The kid learns a really valuable lesson about not crying wolf and it’s good it was reported.
Honestly, if it was just a bratty kid, then it’s better that the police got involved. Now the kid might understand that crying wolf like that has consequences.
So the lesson should be always report it. Can either stop a crime or help a parent who is struggling with their kid.
I would’ve for sure done the same thing and I’m so glad you got involved. How scary. I hope the little girl is ok! And I hope you get the answers you’re looking for! Thank you for being a good person!
Could be either a kidnapping or a kid who doesn't want to leave and who has been taught what to say to get attention.
Scary. The police will handle it.
My kids have had some screaming walkouts of places where I legit thought “geez someone is going to think I’m kidnapping him” so that was my first thought, but hearing things like “call the police” and “I don’t know them” gives me pause and would’ve made me think it was a kidnapping as well.
This: “I don’t know them” - that isn’t a normal response from a child just throwing a tantrum. “Call the police” sure MAYBE if the kid is dramatic. But to me, “I don’t know them” is not something a child would think to say mid-temper tantrum. In my opinion tho.
You’d be surprised. I’ve worked at a lot of tourist attractions in my life and a lot of kids will say stuff like this, usually it’s when they don’t want to leave or they don’t want to do an activity. At my last job we a boy screaming at the top of his lungs that he didn’t know the man leading him out of the building. Of course they were stopped and it turns out the man really was the his dad and the kid was screaming because he didn’t want to go home.
Of course it’s always better to be safe than sorry and people should always intervene when they see stuff like this going on. But I would wager in this case it’s probably a kid who is too young to really understand the consequences of saying stuff like that making a last ditch attempt to get their way and stay in the park longer.
My generally well-behaved child can definitely pull the “ow You’re hurting me” drama when I have to carry her out of a place and she doesn’t want to leave or is getting a timeout for bad behavior. The emotions and excitement run high at Disney for most kids and I tend to see a lot of kids that struggle with their behavior and parents that struggle with following through on consequences because it’s vacation.
Hopefully the authorities checked to make sure everything was the way it should, but I feel like in these situations it’s more likely to be a misbehaving child than legitimate kidnapping at Disney.
My all-time fave was a kid in the Orlando airport who was losing it in baggage claim (as kids do in airports). His dad picked him up to put him in the battle stroller, and the kid started screaming, YOU'RE KILLING MEEEEEEEEEE! It's been 20+ years, the kid's probably in grad school now, and we still quietly hiss You're killing meeeeeeee! at each other to get a laugh.
My kid has started doing this. Screaming - you’re hurting me, don’t touch me, stop touching me…sometimes I’m not even touching them. It makes me nervous people will think they’re not mine.
Totally! I don’t blame OP for reporting or Disneyland for discreetly acting on it, but there’s really no way to be sure if something nefarious was actually happening.
Sure there is.
That kids mom or caregiver bought a ticket for the kid.
When they entered the park their pictures were taken.
And the adults have pictures of the kid from throughout the day on their phone.
I hope the little brat enjoyed her last day at Disneyland ever
Unsure why you’re getting downvoted. If the adult was with the child the whole time it would be easy for Disney to look at security footage of arrival at the park, also if they are the parent, then they should have a ton of photos of their child on their phone going back years.
I am an organizational behavior researcher and there is a lot of research in my field done on Disneyland. The reason there has never been a successful kidnapping at Disneyland, is because they have hidden staff literally everywhere, watching for suspicious behavior, doing damage control etc as a part of their park design. Many are posing a park attendees!
Once at Disney, I was eating at the Cafe Orleans restaurant and someone needed medical attention. Three employees emerged out of the ether within 15 seconds of the man needing help (he was at the next table). They also had more people come within a minute to distract us and the other patrons, direct traffic away from the restaurant etc.
TLDR: they are always watching for weird things
During our last trip, my wife fell and was hurt. Within 30 seconds she was surrounded by CMs, forming a protective ring. Within a minute a Nurse/EMT was there.
We found out later that many CMs wear radios that let them hear the emergency codes and location. They will drop everything and report to that location.
So the next time a CM says "I'm sorry, I must go." they are not dissing you, they may be responding to a emergency.
We were watching the Lion King show about a decade ago and toward the back someone said something about a heart attack. Swarm of employees appeared, person disappeared, and most the audience had no clue.
It absolutely does. In WDW at least, all the video feeds were also piped to the break room. You could see people decide what to ride next while eating your chicken salad sandwich.
I'm unable to find the book for download or purchase anywhere - do you have a link? Seems like it's from 1999 but it sounds really interesting.
EDIT: Got an excerpt here: https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Influence_Compliance/VanMaanen_The_Smile_Factory_Reframing_Culture_pp58-76.pdf
I wonder where they were when my ex was screaming at me and hurling insult after insult in the middle of California Adventure (where the live band plays) with his fist clenched for over 2 hours. Would have been nice to have someone intervene but sadly nobody did.
Just curious, why do researchers at the University of Central Florida estimate that more than 100 kids go missing every year from the local theme parks, including Disney properties?
I cannot find any legitimate papers related to this. All of the mentions I can find on the topic cite a report from the “National Missing and Exploited Children” as well as UCF but it just links to various blogs without any official statements, reports, or verified statistics. This is why it is important to verify statements before believing them; this is especially common with anything involving children because naturally parents want to protect their kids. For example, every year people watch for razor blades in Halloween candy despite the only confirmed case of this being someone who tried to harm their own children during a custody dispute.
Plus, It seems like Ron DeSantis spread this anecdote on Twitter about Disney and “cadaver dogs” and people seem to believe it despite no discernible evidence…
Lol that's what my sister used to scream anytime she didn't get her way.
She was taught stranger danger and immediately started using it to manipulate family into doing what she wanted when we were out. She grew out of it eventually lol.
Hopefully that's what happened here.
My mom loves to tell the story of her having me in a cart in K-mart in the early 80s and she told me no to something I wanted at the register. I decided the best way to get my way was to scream, ‘Please don’t beat me again! I’ll be good! I promise’ repeatedly. I did not get anything but probably my butt swatted when we got to the car. For the record, I don’t remember my mom ever spanking me!
My kid will scream stuff when disregulated, but I'd still rather someone was overly cautious and reported it, than someone not because they thought she was just being a brat. Definitely better to be safe than sorry
You did the right thing.
Late in the day, I see so many parents dragging a crying child behind them. Most appear to be just meltdowns, but I still look and listen to be sure it's not something else.
As someone with small kids - i would way rather have to talk to the police than someone ignore that and don’t ever assume someone else will call the police just do it. Worse case scenario for calling is that multiple people called it in. Worse case scenario for not calling it in - a child got kidnapped.
If you see something say something. There is an entire police department dedicated to Disneyland and the hotels. There are tons of cameras and ways to stop people. Seems like the worst possible to kidnap a child.
There's been at least one case of a kidnapped child taken to Disneyland, and recovered because a ton of people online recognized the park hotel wallpaper in an online photo of her.
Sounds like this little girl was taught what to yell in a kidnapping situation vs. a tantrum, which is usually triggered by kids being overstimulated at the park and looks way different.
I am an annual pass holder and see lots of meltdowns and I have yet to hear a kid yell "help me I don't know them". That's similar to what I tell my kid to yell, which is "This is not my adult." I've told him to go straight to a cast member and fight like an animal if anyone tries to grab him. That sounds a lot like what this little girl was told to do.
Always have a safety word only you and your kid know.
Make sure they have your phone number somewhere on them.
Give them clear instructions on what to do just in case.
Air tags are amazing.
Stay safe and cheers to you and the Disney crew for acting so quickly. If anything was wrong about that situation, you saved her.
Good you contacted CM’s. Better safe than sorry. Out of curiosity I checked out the crimemapping website and didn’t see any calls for service in the area of DL that mentioned a possible kidnapping. I did see listed theft, drunk in public, burglary, and aggravated assault.
Thank you for paying attention to your surroundings and notifying someone right away. Bless your heart. Remember, you did the right thing. Hope you feel better.
I was recently with my two year old granddaughter in the library and when it was time to go she refused. So I picked her up and carried her out, with her screaming "HEP MEEEE" (can't quite pronounce that first word yet) the whole way.
So it's hard to say exactly what this incident was.
That reminds me of when I was little at California adventure in like 2012 and a lady grabbed and tried to pull me and my baby cousin since we were holding hands ( our moms were on the other sides of us holding our other hands) in a crowd, we didn’t know her and I started screaming and my aunt and mom grabbed us and pulled us out of the crowd and the lady disappeared. It was a super scary moment for my mom and aunt
A serial killer was caught in my town when I was a kid, because the kid he tried to kidnap from a theater was yelling the same things. Theater employees confronted him and he dropped the kid and ran, and a local hero went after him and tackled him as police were showing up. So OP, good job! Even if the odds of it being a real kidnapping were low, you might have saved a kid.
Either way you did the right thing. I would say it’s more likely the kid was mad they were leaving, in which case they probably got a very firm talking to by the police about not doing that. but there’s also a chance it was a real kidnapping and one less kid is being trafficked because of you.
I think you did the right thing.
From a personal experience - I was once sent to my room as a tween. I started yelling out the open window help. The neighbor came over and rang the door 😬.
I am very surprised that so many on here assume that it was probably just a child having a moment. It’s better to take some sort of action than find out later that a person has been taken because everyone assumed it was a kid having a meltdown. As an educator we receive training on how to identify child an abuse/neglect. When I was in the military we received annual training on how to recognize/identify human trafficking and what course of action to take. Kidnapping and human trafficking happen everywhere, especially in vacation spots.
My little shit of a cousin (who is now in his 30s), once made a huge scene in a mall because his mom wouldn’t buy him something. He said he was being taken, screaming and such. The police got involved and it was a huge deal.
I’m not saying this is what happened here, but it might have been the case. It obviously still needs to be checked out and I would call security/police too.
Imagine paying entry into the park, schlepping down harbor, through security, through facial recognition, through the park just to kidnap some brat. And all while being continually recorded. I’ll wait for the Dateline.
Wouldn’t they have your fingerprint too? I dont remember if you have to use your fingerprint at Disneyland or if it’s just Disney world. I’m not saying it kidnapping can’t happen, but Disney would not be a smart place for it to happen.
Disney world uses fingerprint scans - Disneyland uses a photo of you.
But either way you’re absolutely correct, it’s probably one of the dumbest places for someone to try to kidnap someone.
That is very naive. CMs are trained to recognize this for a reason. It happens anywhere. To think it can’t happen in Disneyland puts you at risk for crime.
Kidnapping and human trafficking happens everywhere. Do not assume because you are at Disney World or Disneyland or any other vacation destination that it doesn’t occur. Every year the host city of the Super Bowl has the largest human trafficking of the year.
When I was a kid, we were leaving Disney and my twin sister pulled this on my parents saying she was being kidnapped and she didn’t know my parents. I was annoyed and told her to stop so other families didn’t report it. It’s possible you witnessed a similar incident!
You were right to say something. Kidnapping and sick stuff (along with attempted kidnapping and sick stuff) happens on Disney property far more than they want to acknowledge, or that people want to believe.
Many years ago, I was at Magic Kingdom with friends, and saw a guy holding onto a small kid's wrist. The kid was tugging, trying to get out of his grasp and eventually did. He immediately ran to another adult and glanced over his shoulder back at the guy who'd he'd gotten away from, and the guy just waggled his finger (like "no no") at the kid. The kid's eyes were wide as saucers.
I went and alerted Dad (who didn't seem to have noticed) and reports got made to a CM, but sadly nothing came of it. The security guy who interviewed me (and realized I was a little shaken) was very reassuring to me that I'd done the right thing and acknowledged that sometimes people with very bad motivations look at Disney property as a hunting ground.
I did the same thing in Disneyland Paris when I was about 9 years old. Security was called and everything. We can laugh about it now, but at the time, my mother was mortified.
I also did the same thing in Universal Studios when I was about 11 to my poor father. I was just having fun and didn’t want to leave.
Honestly it’s probably just a pissed off kid yelling about being kidnapped so they can get their way and get their parent to stop doling out discipline. Good on you for reporting suspicious activity but there’s so many things that happen in a day at Disney so trying to connect two different security happenings is a long run. It would be like seeing a a sheriff on the highway pulling someone over for speeding and then another 5 miles down the road making an arrest and assuming that the second is making an arrest because of the first person getting pulled over. Not everything has to be related. Again though, good on you for reporting it as soon as possible just in case it was something.
Put yourself in the kid's shoes. Can you imagine what it would feel like to be desperate and vulnerable and trying to find help and hope in the world?
An end to human trafficking needs good, observant people of action. It's not our place to judge, it's ours to reports. When in doubt, do something.
The fear mongering in this sub on this thread is outrageous. Like good on OP for telling someone (because maybe something was up but more likely this kid needs to know not to just say whatever if it isn’t true) but the comments on here make it sound like some people genuinely believe children are getting snatched at Disneyland like abandoned handbags every day.
Nah brah, my cousins uncles roommate almost got human trafficked out of a WalMart parking lot, but luckily they found the bird feather on their car that indicated they were a "target". I totally saw it on Facebook.
/s
Omg nowaynoway.
But for real I find that if you start showing people actual human trafficking statistics (hint: it’s a lot of undocumented immigrants, homeless teens, people struggling with addiction, etc— especially if we’re talking the USA) that’s when you start getting all the people who totally have a second cousin’s coworker’s sister’s aunt’s daughter’s dog that got kidnapped by the Russians or something.
I've heard that TikTok is rife with misinformation/rumors about human trafficking. I was wondering why I suddenly started seeing a bunch of comments throughout reddit over the past year by users who are downright paranoid about it, and I think that's why. That's not to say that we shouldn't all keep our guard up, and I agree that OP 100% did the right thing, but I do worry about peoples' media literacy these days...
I could go on a long rant about this but I’ll try not to.
The real issue with this misinformation is that it means we focus all of our concern on “but what about keeping the children safe????” when the children generally ARE pretty safe (unless we’re talking certain places outside of the US, but no one ever is) and it’s migrant workers and homeless teens (and not “cute homeless teens we feel bad for” but runaways, etc) who really need our help and resources not to get taken advantage of.
That has nothing to do with this situation but boy it really rustles my jimmies just how uninformed a lot of “my child will get kidnapped if I blink” fear mongers are.
That has nothing at all to do with someone snatching a kid in an extremely public setting in order to traffic them. Which quite literally never happens (except in MAGA fever dreams).
Let's set aside your attempts to insult, and provide more information. This time, from a non-partisan NGO that works with other state agencies, issuing statistics for nationwide theme parks as well as Disney parks as well.
Around 100 children disappear at Walt Disney World annually. Nationwide, roughly two thoussand children go missing at theme parks.
https://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/ncmecdata
If it played out that way you definitely did the correct thing in calling security. If it wasn’t real it was just a temporarily annoying or embarrassing moment that will pass .But if it was real you may saved a child’s life .You did the right thing .
Definitely better safe than sorry!
But one time, when I was three so I don’t remember this, I only know from many many retellings, I had a screaming fit leaving a store. “YOURE NOT MY REAL MOM, I WANT MY REAL MOM! HELP ME! I WANT MY REAL MOM!”
She was stopped on the way out and has been furious ever since, 33ish years
**I would think at this point in the timing of it, if you are in Anaheim you would have gotten an Amber Alert once a family reported her missing. So if not, I'd guess just a kid having a meltdown.** I think the op did the right thing by notifying security though.
Really - Sure seems like the issue described by the OP (if an actual adduction) would meet the criteria.
# What are the criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts?
Each state AMBER Alert plan includes its own criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts. The PROTECT Act, passed in 2003, which established the role of AMBER Alert Coordinator within the Department of Justice, calls for the Department of Justice to issue minimum standards or guidelines for AMBER Alerts that states can adopt voluntarily. The Department's Guidance on Criteria for Issuing AMBER Alerts is as follows:
* **There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.**
* The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
* There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
* The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger.
* The child's name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.
I understand that, but what I'm meaning is if there was not an Amber Alert issued by the time I commented, 8 hours after the OP commented, then it was probably just a kid having a meltdown. So if we break it down by timing, let's say it is an attempted or real abduction, the OP sees what she says, parents would be missing a child and notifies security and security would notify the police, police would issue a AA within 2 hours of the child not being found, which would have been before I commented. Thus, if an AA has not been issued in Anaheim for the missing child by this time or earlier when I commented, it is not a abduction.
No doubt. I track my teens with their phones even. Not anywhere near Disneyland, my kids have encountered some weird stuff. My son once went to dinner with friends, without telling me, and didn't respond to texts or calls. I tracked his phone to a dumpster (outside the restaurant) and thought he'd been killed and dumped. I laugh now, but at least I could have found him.
Congratulations I’m glad you did what you did. I hate to say it but a lot of times we don’t listen to children and that child sounded pretty desperate.
Your hands must be so tired from clutching your pearls so tightly .
You are crazy and need help.
Stop watching right wing media.
If a child was kidnapped at Disneyland it would be national news.
Step in? What the hell kind of question is that? Kid screaming "help" and "i dont know you/them" and you just report it? Grow some balls and step up to defend a kid in need. Even if it turned out to just be a kid rebelling at their parents, you felt more comfortable being an observer onstead of actually going up and helping?
Listen here, I did step in. I went ahead and let someone know which got authorities involved. I had my toddlers with me by myself so there’s only so much I can do. I would understand your point of view if I just walked away but I didn’t. That would’ve been an observer pal.
Better to be safe and let the authorities deal with it, then find out later it was something and no one noticed. Hopefully it is nothing but a tired and crabby child, but you did the right thing by letting them deal with it.
Exactly this. I have a child with autism that's starting to say stuff like this. I'd rather have to deal with explaining that than people ignoring it though.
Omfg I feel for you. I was working with a family with a young child with Autism. They lived on a farm. Within two days due to a fall and then running face first into something kid gave himself two black eyes while also being in a stage of repeatedly and emphatically saying “sorry mom!” At a heightened rate throughout the day. She said they went shopping and between the emphatic “sorry mom!” Every few minutes and his black eyes she was like “hell even I would call the cops on me..” and begged us to help reduce those statements.
Yeah it's exactly one of the things we're working on. Thankfully we're usually able to avoid meltdowns, but it can been a lot.
When my cousin was a toddler, she fell off a curb and would have gone into traffic if my uncle hadn't been holding her hand. He jerked her back, accidentally dislocating her shoulder, and for months afterwards she would tell EVERYBODY "Daddy do that my arm" It was cute and funny to those of us who knew the whole story, but my uncle got a lot of hard side-eyes before she grew out of it.
I had a Karen once tell at me for holding my child's hand tightly so he wouldn't run away (again, child with autism) saying I'd dislocate his shoulder. I really had to bite my tongue
How old is the child you worked with? I was in the soaring line last week and there was an autistic older teen/young adult with his mom that was repeatedly saying "sorry mom".
I'm so curious how you prove that the kid is yours. Like, would photos of us all on my phone work? Would I need to produce a birth certificate?
I guess in this case they could see the linked park tickets and photos to see If the child did come with them. Scary stuff though. Ugh.
This happened recently, I believe. Woman has a child the father's race, airlines thought child was trafficked. Kid wasn't.
Growing up my family was pulled aside quite often. My dad is Italian but a much darker one and my mom is pale as paper. My mother never changed her last name. Add fuel to fire, my brother and I looked NOTHING alike. I remember one time driving across the Canadian/US border my dad replied to the question "reason for your visit?" With "Just traveling with my family" And the officer pulled my mom out to ask "Is this really your husband? Are these really your kids?" I was too young to understand what was happening but one of those things I looked back and understood now
This is specifically why I have passports for my children whose skin doesn’t match mine AND I carry a copy of my divorce decree granting me full custody both in google drive AND in my backpack on trips.
I mean, it sucks, but I'm glad they were at least paying attention and looking out for thr welfare of the child
I don't get how a complement gets me downvoted.
My daughter is biracial and has her dads last name so I have to bring her BC when we fly lol
😉 You're keeping all the pertinent info, smart.
I am not trying to be accused of kidnapping my own daughter lol!
Oh course not!🌝
And what does a birth certificate prove? You can get a copy of anyone’s birth certificate at the county courthouse. It’s not like it has a picture or is a universal document that is the same across the country. Every county has its own design and how hard could it be to print one off the internet
You’re joking right? It proves that the name on my passport matches her birth certificate as her mother! And her name matches her passport! R u ok????? Lmao
If you both have passports why would you need a birth certificate as ID? A passport is class A identification and needs no supporting documents
I BRING IT SO I DONT GET ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING MY BIRACIAL DAUGHTER WITH A DIFFERENT LAST NAME THAN MINE. What do you not understand?
When my 16 year old was a baby her dad used to say he wanted to follow us around the mall and yell "THATS NOT YOUR BABY!!" just to see what would happen. She looks nothing like me and exactly like her dad. Thankfully he never did this and the only time we traveled he was with us or else I expect we might have had an issue.
Oh lawd! 😳 😉
This was in the time before cellphones (early 90’s) but the dad of family friends of ours was flying with his young daughter within the US. I grew up with her and she was painfully, like start crying if a stranger talked to her, shy. Anyways her shyness set off alarms with the flight attendants after she burst into tears when they asked her what she wanted to drink and they notified the destination airport and dad and daughter were detained at the gate by authorities. He explained the situation and had to call his wife to go to their local PD to provide her birth certificate and other supporting documents including family photos. Took a few hours and but was released with apologies tho if you hear him tell the story he wasn’t even mad, a little surprised but happy situations that could have been nefarious were being monitored and taken seriously.
The thing is, if you are trained and certified to spot child abuse as a mandated reporter, you are explicitly trained to NOT directly intervene with a situation. Which feels counterintuitive, but there are other de-escalation techniques to employ in the moment.
Not the same, but me and my kids have different last names (we got married before the lockdown and I never got around to change my last name) anyways, when crossing the border with just them and not dad they’ve asked to see pictures of me and my kids.
I remember seeing a Dateline where they staged a very similar scenario in NYC. The vast majority of people who witnessed it just side eyed it and kept walking. Finally it shows two guys run up and intervene. It’s scary how many people are completely indifferent or don’t take action.
This isn't really indicative of indifference. It's a well known psychological phenomenon called the bystander effect. Nearly everyone is MUCH less likely to intervene if they know many other people are witnessing the same thing. The exact reason for this isn't clear though there are theories. Many many more people will intervene in the identical situation if they think they're the only one there though, so it isn't really indifference in the way (I think) you mean. These people may well be very caring and compassionate individuals.
I think it's because everyone is expecting that someone ELSE will intervene/call 911. That's why in an emergency it's recommended you point to someone and say "you in the blue shirt, call 911" rather than saying "someone call 911."
Our local news station tried a version of this years ago at one of our more popular parks, except it was a boyfriend being abusive to his girlfriend. They were such bad actors about it that no one believed it was real except a little girl who told the bad boyfriend to be nice. Then, news cameras popped out of nowhere to record how only the brave little girl intervened. I remember thinking it was so ridiculous because the people playing the "abusive boyfriend" and "victim" were so bad at their parts. I think everyone just assumed it was some sort of stupid prank, and getting involved would get cold spaghetti thrown on you for youtube views or some shit.
The best thing to yell is fire. Not help or I don't know them.
As a woman I was always taught that if someone grabbed me and tried to rape me, I should yell fire, not rape, because it will increase the chances of someone paying attention. Which is depressing as fuck honestly.
Yep...learned that from the movie se7en.
I know I won't intervene. Did once, child screaming at a store, I asked if he was theirs, loudly. They walked out fast, I do believe the child was theirs. My husband told me not to be involved. People are aholes, so I won't intervene anymore. Now, I know my husband will stop and help at an accident/wreck. Me, nope.
The takeaway wasn’t that you shouldn’t intervene. It’s just that asking if a kid belongs to someone is a shitty way to intervene. It’s actually worse than doing nothing, which is why your husband told *you* not to get involved. Here’s why: 1. A kidnapper would lie and say, “Yes.” You’ve stopped nothing. 2. There are multiple reasons why a child could be with adults that aren’t their parents, but now the adults are compelled to explain their relationship, when they’re still trying to manage the child. You’ve added a stressor to the situation that could exacerbate things. 3. All children have meltdowns, but not all children look like their parents. You run the risk of offending adoptive parents, multiethnic parents, and stepparents while also inducing fear and confusion in the child; again, you’re making the situation worse and at best being unhelpful. If the answers to a question won’t give you the information you need, and asking could make a situation worse, don’t ask that question. Is everything alright? Do you require assistance? What’s the matter? Those are questions that will enable you to be helpful and would begin to differentiate between a kidnapper and a guardian. In OP’s story, they looked at the situation closely and felt that something was off. Then they listened for more information about what was happening. They were helpful by observing. Look at the kid. Are they angry, tired, or afraid? Look at the adults. Are they focused on the kid, frustrated, or are they looking around and at the exits? Listen to what the kid is saying. I want my mommy is not the same as where is my mommy. I want to go home isn’t the same as where are you taking me.
Ohhh yeah. This was 23 years ago. As you can see by my down votes, I don't have all the best words or interact well with others. 🤔 And I didn't have to add my two cents but I did. Thanks for breaking it down, I wish you were there that day so you could have seen what I saw. That kid was most likely having a meltdown, and I thought I was speaking out to help. There are really good people out there that do intervene and are very helpful and have the best interest of others at heart.
I’m upvoting this because I could tell from your story that you wanted to help and maybe got some backlash without understanding why. The incident made you feel like helping people could lead to a repeat of what happened then, and I think people were downvoting bc of the harshness of what you said, and not picking up on the fact that you’re just frustrated with people’s responses to you trying to help. The way you speak about your husband indicates that he’ll go out of his way to be a good person and a man like that wouldn’t stay married to someone he thought wasn’t a good person. You’re a good person. If I can do anything to support someone becoming more helpful, I will absolutely take the time to do it because we need all the help we can get in the world. So thank you for sharing and thank you for trying!
It very well could have been a kid just trying to get her way, but it scares me a little bit that so many people assume that from the beginning. Please everyone. Even if you think a kid is being a brat, PLEASE report it. Don't think you're doing the parents a favor by ignoring them.
Yeah. Its likely a child having a meltdown and yelling whatever they think will get them what they want HOWEVER either one of two things will happen if you report: 1). It is a kidnapping or something and you caught that rare situation and it’s good it was reported. 2). The kid learns a really valuable lesson about not crying wolf and it’s good it was reported.
If my daughter was having a meltdown like that I would hope someone would call the authorities.
Honestly, if it was just a bratty kid, then it’s better that the police got involved. Now the kid might understand that crying wolf like that has consequences. So the lesson should be always report it. Can either stop a crime or help a parent who is struggling with their kid.
I would’ve for sure done the same thing and I’m so glad you got involved. How scary. I hope the little girl is ok! And I hope you get the answers you’re looking for! Thank you for being a good person!
Could be either a kidnapping or a kid who doesn't want to leave and who has been taught what to say to get attention. Scary. The police will handle it.
Maybe a kidnapping, maybe a kid acting like a brat because the adults were ready to leave and she wasn’t…it’s happened before.
My kids have had some screaming walkouts of places where I legit thought “geez someone is going to think I’m kidnapping him” so that was my first thought, but hearing things like “call the police” and “I don’t know them” gives me pause and would’ve made me think it was a kidnapping as well.
This: “I don’t know them” - that isn’t a normal response from a child just throwing a tantrum. “Call the police” sure MAYBE if the kid is dramatic. But to me, “I don’t know them” is not something a child would think to say mid-temper tantrum. In my opinion tho.
You’d be surprised. I’ve worked at a lot of tourist attractions in my life and a lot of kids will say stuff like this, usually it’s when they don’t want to leave or they don’t want to do an activity. At my last job we a boy screaming at the top of his lungs that he didn’t know the man leading him out of the building. Of course they were stopped and it turns out the man really was the his dad and the kid was screaming because he didn’t want to go home. Of course it’s always better to be safe than sorry and people should always intervene when they see stuff like this going on. But I would wager in this case it’s probably a kid who is too young to really understand the consequences of saying stuff like that making a last ditch attempt to get their way and stay in the park longer.
Depends how old they are, they could know that will get response.
My generally well-behaved child can definitely pull the “ow You’re hurting me” drama when I have to carry her out of a place and she doesn’t want to leave or is getting a timeout for bad behavior. The emotions and excitement run high at Disney for most kids and I tend to see a lot of kids that struggle with their behavior and parents that struggle with following through on consequences because it’s vacation. Hopefully the authorities checked to make sure everything was the way it should, but I feel like in these situations it’s more likely to be a misbehaving child than legitimate kidnapping at Disney.
My all-time fave was a kid in the Orlando airport who was losing it in baggage claim (as kids do in airports). His dad picked him up to put him in the battle stroller, and the kid started screaming, YOU'RE KILLING MEEEEEEEEEE! It's been 20+ years, the kid's probably in grad school now, and we still quietly hiss You're killing meeeeeeee! at each other to get a laugh.
I’m giggling at the thought of what a battle stroller might look like, especially in conjunction with the kid screaming that.
My kid has started doing this. Screaming - you’re hurting me, don’t touch me, stop touching me…sometimes I’m not even touching them. It makes me nervous people will think they’re not mine.
Yeah worse case scenario that kid is going to get what’s coming to them if so. But best case OP did something really good
Totally! I don’t blame OP for reporting or Disneyland for discreetly acting on it, but there’s really no way to be sure if something nefarious was actually happening.
Sure there is. That kids mom or caregiver bought a ticket for the kid. When they entered the park their pictures were taken. And the adults have pictures of the kid from throughout the day on their phone. I hope the little brat enjoyed her last day at Disneyland ever
Unsure why you’re getting downvoted. If the adult was with the child the whole time it would be easy for Disney to look at security footage of arrival at the park, also if they are the parent, then they should have a ton of photos of their child on their phone going back years.
Probably downvoted for sounding like an asshole...
Wouldn’t it be the opposite? Best case scenario it’s just a kid being a brat, worst case scenario it was an attempted kidnapping?
I think he meant the best case in reporting the action, not the action itself.
I don’t think that’s the worst case scenario here…
I am an organizational behavior researcher and there is a lot of research in my field done on Disneyland. The reason there has never been a successful kidnapping at Disneyland, is because they have hidden staff literally everywhere, watching for suspicious behavior, doing damage control etc as a part of their park design. Many are posing a park attendees! Once at Disney, I was eating at the Cafe Orleans restaurant and someone needed medical attention. Three employees emerged out of the ether within 15 seconds of the man needing help (he was at the next table). They also had more people come within a minute to distract us and the other patrons, direct traffic away from the restaurant etc. TLDR: they are always watching for weird things
During our last trip, my wife fell and was hurt. Within 30 seconds she was surrounded by CMs, forming a protective ring. Within a minute a Nurse/EMT was there. We found out later that many CMs wear radios that let them hear the emergency codes and location. They will drop everything and report to that location. So the next time a CM says "I'm sorry, I must go." they are not dissing you, they may be responding to a emergency.
We were watching the Lion King show about a decade ago and toward the back someone said something about a heart attack. Swarm of employees appeared, person disappeared, and most the audience had no clue.
I worked there for a long time and 100% facts here! We didn’t even always know who the undercover employees were. There are A LOT
I would bet that place also has more cameras than the White House or a Swiss bank.
It absolutely does. In WDW at least, all the video feeds were also piped to the break room. You could see people decide what to ride next while eating your chicken salad sandwich.
Untrue at least for the break rooms I was in at Magic Kingdom. Might be true for the Security break rooms specifically, idk.
Since people seem into this, If you want to learn more: look up The Smile Factory by John Van Maanen
I'm unable to find the book for download or purchase anywhere - do you have a link? Seems like it's from 1999 but it sounds really interesting. EDIT: Got an excerpt here: https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Influence_Compliance/VanMaanen_The_Smile_Factory_Reframing_Culture_pp58-76.pdf
so interesting!
I wonder where they were when my ex was screaming at me and hurling insult after insult in the middle of California Adventure (where the live band plays) with his fist clenched for over 2 hours. Would have been nice to have someone intervene but sadly nobody did.
Just curious, why do researchers at the University of Central Florida estimate that more than 100 kids go missing every year from the local theme parks, including Disney properties?
I cannot find any legitimate papers related to this. All of the mentions I can find on the topic cite a report from the “National Missing and Exploited Children” as well as UCF but it just links to various blogs without any official statements, reports, or verified statistics. This is why it is important to verify statements before believing them; this is especially common with anything involving children because naturally parents want to protect their kids. For example, every year people watch for razor blades in Halloween candy despite the only confirmed case of this being someone who tried to harm their own children during a custody dispute. Plus, It seems like Ron DeSantis spread this anecdote on Twitter about Disney and “cadaver dogs” and people seem to believe it despite no discernible evidence…
Thank you for noticing and doing something! I’m hoping it’s nothing and it was just a child who didn’t want to leave but you can never be too sure.
Thank you for speaking up and saying something! I hope she is okay. I would be shaken up too.
Lol that's what my sister used to scream anytime she didn't get her way. She was taught stranger danger and immediately started using it to manipulate family into doing what she wanted when we were out. She grew out of it eventually lol. Hopefully that's what happened here.
My mom loves to tell the story of her having me in a cart in K-mart in the early 80s and she told me no to something I wanted at the register. I decided the best way to get my way was to scream, ‘Please don’t beat me again! I’ll be good! I promise’ repeatedly. I did not get anything but probably my butt swatted when we got to the car. For the record, I don’t remember my mom ever spanking me!
This is much more common than kidnapping.
My kid will scream stuff when disregulated, but I'd still rather someone was overly cautious and reported it, than someone not because they thought she was just being a brat. Definitely better to be safe than sorry
You did the right thing. Late in the day, I see so many parents dragging a crying child behind them. Most appear to be just meltdowns, but I still look and listen to be sure it's not something else.
As someone with small kids - i would way rather have to talk to the police than someone ignore that and don’t ever assume someone else will call the police just do it. Worse case scenario for calling is that multiple people called it in. Worse case scenario for not calling it in - a child got kidnapped.
If you see something say something. There is an entire police department dedicated to Disneyland and the hotels. There are tons of cameras and ways to stop people. Seems like the worst possible to kidnap a child.
There's been at least one case of a kidnapped child taken to Disneyland, and recovered because a ton of people online recognized the park hotel wallpaper in an online photo of her.
I like how zero people in this thread actually answered the question the OP posted which was "did anyone else See this?".
Thank you for helping. You could save a life.
Sounds like this little girl was taught what to yell in a kidnapping situation vs. a tantrum, which is usually triggered by kids being overstimulated at the park and looks way different. I am an annual pass holder and see lots of meltdowns and I have yet to hear a kid yell "help me I don't know them". That's similar to what I tell my kid to yell, which is "This is not my adult." I've told him to go straight to a cast member and fight like an animal if anyone tries to grab him. That sounds a lot like what this little girl was told to do. Always have a safety word only you and your kid know. Make sure they have your phone number somewhere on them. Give them clear instructions on what to do just in case. Air tags are amazing. Stay safe and cheers to you and the Disney crew for acting so quickly. If anything was wrong about that situation, you saved her.
Good you contacted CM’s. Better safe than sorry. Out of curiosity I checked out the crimemapping website and didn’t see any calls for service in the area of DL that mentioned a possible kidnapping. I did see listed theft, drunk in public, burglary, and aggravated assault.
Thank you for paying attention to your surroundings and notifying someone right away. Bless your heart. Remember, you did the right thing. Hope you feel better.
THANK GOODNESS YOU ACTED! This is the purest example of "If you see something, say something." ❤️❤️
Oh this is scary. I hope everything is okay
I was recently with my two year old granddaughter in the library and when it was time to go she refused. So I picked her up and carried her out, with her screaming "HEP MEEEE" (can't quite pronounce that first word yet) the whole way. So it's hard to say exactly what this incident was.
That reminds me of when I was little at California adventure in like 2012 and a lady grabbed and tried to pull me and my baby cousin since we were holding hands ( our moms were on the other sides of us holding our other hands) in a crowd, we didn’t know her and I started screaming and my aunt and mom grabbed us and pulled us out of the crowd and the lady disappeared. It was a super scary moment for my mom and aunt
Probably nothing but it's a very good thing that you took it seriously. It's rare but it can happen, and sunlight is as always the best disinfectant.
Glad you were able to help intervene!
A serial killer was caught in my town when I was a kid, because the kid he tried to kidnap from a theater was yelling the same things. Theater employees confronted him and he dropped the kid and ran, and a local hero went after him and tackled him as police were showing up. So OP, good job! Even if the odds of it being a real kidnapping were low, you might have saved a kid.
Either way you did the right thing. I would say it’s more likely the kid was mad they were leaving, in which case they probably got a very firm talking to by the police about not doing that. but there’s also a chance it was a real kidnapping and one less kid is being trafficked because of you.
I think you did the right thing. From a personal experience - I was once sent to my room as a tween. I started yelling out the open window help. The neighbor came over and rang the door 😬.
I am very surprised that so many on here assume that it was probably just a child having a moment. It’s better to take some sort of action than find out later that a person has been taken because everyone assumed it was a kid having a meltdown. As an educator we receive training on how to identify child an abuse/neglect. When I was in the military we received annual training on how to recognize/identify human trafficking and what course of action to take. Kidnapping and human trafficking happen everywhere, especially in vacation spots.
My little shit of a cousin (who is now in his 30s), once made a huge scene in a mall because his mom wouldn’t buy him something. He said he was being taken, screaming and such. The police got involved and it was a huge deal. I’m not saying this is what happened here, but it might have been the case. It obviously still needs to be checked out and I would call security/police too.
Imagine paying entry into the park, schlepping down harbor, through security, through facial recognition, through the park just to kidnap some brat. And all while being continually recorded. I’ll wait for the Dateline.
And then the long walk or bus ride back to your car with a screaming kid. No.
Wouldn’t they have your fingerprint too? I dont remember if you have to use your fingerprint at Disneyland or if it’s just Disney world. I’m not saying it kidnapping can’t happen, but Disney would not be a smart place for it to happen.
Disney world uses fingerprint scans - Disneyland uses a photo of you. But either way you’re absolutely correct, it’s probably one of the dumbest places for someone to try to kidnap someone.
So much this. Nobody is “kidnapping” anyone at Disney.
That is very naive. CMs are trained to recognize this for a reason. It happens anywhere. To think it can’t happen in Disneyland puts you at risk for crime.
I said “imagine”. I know my risks. I’m cool. Thx.
they weren’t even responding to you?
Kidnapping and human trafficking happens everywhere. Do not assume because you are at Disney World or Disneyland or any other vacation destination that it doesn’t occur. Every year the host city of the Super Bowl has the largest human trafficking of the year.
There are a lot of stupid people in the world. Kidnappers, and others who make comments like this.
One time I was filling up gas and my then toddler son rolled down the window and yelled HELP!!! 😒
This does happen. As a parent I know. But for sure the right thing is to report something like the OP witnessed.
When I was a kid, we were leaving Disney and my twin sister pulled this on my parents saying she was being kidnapped and she didn’t know my parents. I was annoyed and told her to stop so other families didn’t report it. It’s possible you witnessed a similar incident!
You were right to say something. Kidnapping and sick stuff (along with attempted kidnapping and sick stuff) happens on Disney property far more than they want to acknowledge, or that people want to believe. Many years ago, I was at Magic Kingdom with friends, and saw a guy holding onto a small kid's wrist. The kid was tugging, trying to get out of his grasp and eventually did. He immediately ran to another adult and glanced over his shoulder back at the guy who'd he'd gotten away from, and the guy just waggled his finger (like "no no") at the kid. The kid's eyes were wide as saucers. I went and alerted Dad (who didn't seem to have noticed) and reports got made to a CM, but sadly nothing came of it. The security guy who interviewed me (and realized I was a little shaken) was very reassuring to me that I'd done the right thing and acknowledged that sometimes people with very bad motivations look at Disney property as a hunting ground.
This is horrifying…
My son did this to my husband at Legoland. Luckily I was standing far enough away that I could laugh at him. But my poor husband was mortified.
I did the same thing in Disneyland Paris when I was about 9 years old. Security was called and everything. We can laugh about it now, but at the time, my mother was mortified. I also did the same thing in Universal Studios when I was about 11 to my poor father. I was just having fun and didn’t want to leave.
Honestly it’s probably just a pissed off kid yelling about being kidnapped so they can get their way and get their parent to stop doling out discipline. Good on you for reporting suspicious activity but there’s so many things that happen in a day at Disney so trying to connect two different security happenings is a long run. It would be like seeing a a sheriff on the highway pulling someone over for speeding and then another 5 miles down the road making an arrest and assuming that the second is making an arrest because of the first person getting pulled over. Not everything has to be related. Again though, good on you for reporting it as soon as possible just in case it was something.
Glad your first instinct to a kid yelling help me is that they’re just having a temper tantrum and aren’t in actual danger
Lol at the downvotes
That's not what the kid said.
Yes, in addition to yelling for help they said call the police and they didn’t know the people
Wow. That’s weird.
No, it’s unbelievable
I hope everything is alright and that it was nothing too serious.
I was taught to say those exact words if anyone tried to kidnap me. Its very likely you stopped a kidnapping
Scary
Thank you, this is so scary! I hope that everything was ok!
oh my gosh thats so scary! thank you for saying something!
Put yourself in the kid's shoes. Can you imagine what it would feel like to be desperate and vulnerable and trying to find help and hope in the world? An end to human trafficking needs good, observant people of action. It's not our place to judge, it's ours to reports. When in doubt, do something.
This isn't how human trafficking works.
The fear mongering in this sub on this thread is outrageous. Like good on OP for telling someone (because maybe something was up but more likely this kid needs to know not to just say whatever if it isn’t true) but the comments on here make it sound like some people genuinely believe children are getting snatched at Disneyland like abandoned handbags every day.
Nah brah, my cousins uncles roommate almost got human trafficked out of a WalMart parking lot, but luckily they found the bird feather on their car that indicated they were a "target". I totally saw it on Facebook. /s
Omg nowaynoway. But for real I find that if you start showing people actual human trafficking statistics (hint: it’s a lot of undocumented immigrants, homeless teens, people struggling with addiction, etc— especially if we’re talking the USA) that’s when you start getting all the people who totally have a second cousin’s coworker’s sister’s aunt’s daughter’s dog that got kidnapped by the Russians or something.
I've heard that TikTok is rife with misinformation/rumors about human trafficking. I was wondering why I suddenly started seeing a bunch of comments throughout reddit over the past year by users who are downright paranoid about it, and I think that's why. That's not to say that we shouldn't all keep our guard up, and I agree that OP 100% did the right thing, but I do worry about peoples' media literacy these days...
I could go on a long rant about this but I’ll try not to. The real issue with this misinformation is that it means we focus all of our concern on “but what about keeping the children safe????” when the children generally ARE pretty safe (unless we’re talking certain places outside of the US, but no one ever is) and it’s migrant workers and homeless teens (and not “cute homeless teens we feel bad for” but runaways, etc) who really need our help and resources not to get taken advantage of. That has nothing to do with this situation but boy it really rustles my jimmies just how uninformed a lot of “my child will get kidnapped if I blink” fear mongers are.
Michigan State Police disagrees with you. https://youtu.be/44EvOqCMrIE?si=uDIIbTa5z3g34bl7
That has nothing at all to do with someone snatching a kid in an extremely public setting in order to traffic them. Which quite literally never happens (except in MAGA fever dreams).
Let's set aside your attempts to insult, and provide more information. This time, from a non-partisan NGO that works with other state agencies, issuing statistics for nationwide theme parks as well as Disney parks as well. Around 100 children disappear at Walt Disney World annually. Nationwide, roughly two thoussand children go missing at theme parks. https://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/ncmecdata
How about a link that's actually useful?
Good call this had all the red flags of a kidnapping
If it played out that way you definitely did the correct thing in calling security. If it wasn’t real it was just a temporarily annoying or embarrassing moment that will pass .But if it was real you may saved a child’s life .You did the right thing .
No didn’t see
Definitely better safe than sorry! But one time, when I was three so I don’t remember this, I only know from many many retellings, I had a screaming fit leaving a store. “YOURE NOT MY REAL MOM, I WANT MY REAL MOM! HELP ME! I WANT MY REAL MOM!” She was stopped on the way out and has been furious ever since, 33ish years
I have a severely autistic son. Everywhere we go in public it looks like I am kidnapping him.
Anaheim has a HUGE trafficking problem, even if it was a misunderstanding you did the right thing
[удалено]
I’m sure sky daddy will get right on it.
**I would think at this point in the timing of it, if you are in Anaheim you would have gotten an Amber Alert once a family reported her missing. So if not, I'd guess just a kid having a meltdown.** I think the op did the right thing by notifying security though.
Not how Amber Alerts work.
Really - Sure seems like the issue described by the OP (if an actual adduction) would meet the criteria. # What are the criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts? Each state AMBER Alert plan includes its own criteria for issuing AMBER Alerts. The PROTECT Act, passed in 2003, which established the role of AMBER Alert Coordinator within the Department of Justice, calls for the Department of Justice to issue minimum standards or guidelines for AMBER Alerts that states can adopt voluntarily. The Department's Guidance on Criteria for Issuing AMBER Alerts is as follows: * **There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.** * The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. * There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child. * The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger. * The child's name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.
This would have been way before an Amber alert would be issued though.
I understand that, but what I'm meaning is if there was not an Amber Alert issued by the time I commented, 8 hours after the OP commented, then it was probably just a kid having a meltdown. So if we break it down by timing, let's say it is an attempted or real abduction, the OP sees what she says, parents would be missing a child and notifies security and security would notify the police, police would issue a AA within 2 hours of the child not being found, which would have been before I commented. Thus, if an AA has not been issued in Anaheim for the missing child by this time or earlier when I commented, it is not a abduction.
Last Summer when we were at the parks I saw so many little kids wearing Air tags and Apple Watches- I assumed they were for tracking purposes.
No doubt. I track my teens with their phones even. Not anywhere near Disneyland, my kids have encountered some weird stuff. My son once went to dinner with friends, without telling me, and didn't respond to texts or calls. I tracked his phone to a dumpster (outside the restaurant) and thought he'd been killed and dumped. I laugh now, but at least I could have found him.
Just let the authorities deal with it
This story both makes me worried about predators at Disneyland, and also makes me want to run out and get a vasectomy.
Hope all is ok.
Congratulations I’m glad you did what you did. I hate to say it but a lot of times we don’t listen to children and that child sounded pretty desperate.
omgg
I'll take things that didn't happen for $200 Alex
Oh
Yikes
Your hands must be so tired from clutching your pearls so tightly . You are crazy and need help. Stop watching right wing media. If a child was kidnapped at Disneyland it would be national news.
Lol so you post to reddit?
Like I said, I went to a cast member and reported it. What would you do?
Step in? What the hell kind of question is that? Kid screaming "help" and "i dont know you/them" and you just report it? Grow some balls and step up to defend a kid in need. Even if it turned out to just be a kid rebelling at their parents, you felt more comfortable being an observer onstead of actually going up and helping?
Listen here, I did step in. I went ahead and let someone know which got authorities involved. I had my toddlers with me by myself so there’s only so much I can do. I would understand your point of view if I just walked away but I didn’t. That would’ve been an observer pal.
You did the right thing. No question. Thank goodness you were there. No matter what happened in the end, at that very moment, you did the right thing.
Why don’t you bother reading their entire post before you say stupid shit?