“Please let this child’s parents know what kind of helper is ‘taking care’ of her,” this is how Facebook user Mahita Vas started her post on Wednesday, 4 March.
Her post, which at the time of publication has garnered over 6,800 shares, shows a photo of crying little girl seated outside what was said to be Coronation Plaza. Ms Vas has alleged the child’s helper to have left the child alone outside the shopping plaza.
A maid leaves child alone outside Coronation Plaza, close to the road. | Photo: Mahita Vas / Facebook
Maid leaves child alone, ‘got defensive’ and ‘made no effort to comfort the child’
When the maid finally appeared, Ms Vas said the helper, made “no effort to hurry despite seeing the child sobbing.”
The helper was also said to have “got defensive” when called out for leaving the child unaccompanied.
Seeking to identify and inform parents
Stranger danger is always a key concern with young kids, even in a relatively safe country in Singapore. And Vas said that what the helper did was “indefensible.”
She is seeking help from the public to help find the child’s parents so that they would be aware of what has happened to their child.
Read her full post here.
What should you do if you come across an unaccompanied child?
- Keep calm, so as to not influence the child who might already be distressed
- Gently ask the child if he or she was with anyone before
- Try to get general details on what happened, and if the child is lost from her caregiver, you might want to inform the police. You can do so at any police service counter.
Be sure to provide the police the following information of the missing child:
- Name
- Date of Birth
- Height
- Weight
- Other ways to help the police identify the child quickly (e.g. unique features such as through moles, spectacles, braces etc)
- Child’s recent photo
- When you first noticed your child was missing
- The clothing he/she was wearing
If you were to experience this, directly call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000 or do an online submission via the Police portal, here.
Also READ: 5 Subtle signs that you have hired a bad maid
