A Lost Child.
On Saturday October 4, I took my four-year old son to the Tom Dragon playland with one of his friends from school. This type of playground appeals particularly to parents with young active children because of the sense of security and safety that it provides. Everything is padded and safety checked. There are employees in various locations keeping an eye on things. The front gate is manned by two employees who check everybody coming in and going out. No child is allowed to leave unaccompanied by a parent.
The terrifying sequence of events is indicative of the chronic lack of professionalism on the part of both private and public institution here in Taiwan.
Around 6:30 pm I was playing with my son on the pirate ship shooting styrofoam balls at each other. I told my son I was going to the bathroom and would be right back. He was laying on net and looking very tired. I left him laying there and went to the bathroom. When I came back 2 to 3 minutes later he was gone. His mother and I looked around for 20 minutes and then asked the staff to help locate him. He was not on the premises. I called the police and AIT. The police were unresponsive. Both my wife and I called several times in Chinese and English with no result. I called 911 and asked to speak to the Foreign affairs police. The operator on the phone did not understand English nor my poor Chinese and hung up on me.
Around 7:00 my son was found crying in or around the first floor parking area by as of yet unidentified person or persons. That is three floors and on the other side of the department store from wher I last saw him in Tom Dragon
The police did not show up until a very loud and violent foreign father began to threaten the staff in the reception area. The foreign affairs police were still present and by 8:00 the police asked my family to come down to the police station and make a report. I asked repeatedly for the foreign affairs police to be notified and assist. The officers on the scene refused to contact them and when I contacted them they were again unresponsive. AIT called me every ten minutes to check on the situation and around 9:00 an officer from the FAP showed up to interpret and assist at the police station. When I asked him what took him so long he said he was not sleeping but watching MLB, Major League Baseball.
After the fact it is obvious to me that in this instance I have failed as a parent. I am no new comer to Taiwan and I am more than aware of the dangers that exist here. The quality of service in Taiwan is near the bottom of the global scale. Letting my guard down for a few minutes was the cause of this problem. Weather my son wandered out of the secure area by himself or was abducted has yet to be determined and the police are in no way interested in investigating the matter further. The police have also refused to file an official report as there was no apparent wrong doing evident.
My next question is what to do next.
[quote=“Eric Lier”]A Lost Child.
On Saturday October 4, I took my four-year old son to the Tom Dragon playland with one of his friends from school. This type of playground appeals particularly to parents with young active children because of the sense of security and safety that it provides. Everything is padded and safety checked. There are employees in various locations keeping an eye on things. The front gate is manned by two employees who check everybody coming in and going out. No child is allowed to leave unaccompanied by a parent.
The terrifying sequence of events is indicative of the chronic lack of professionalism on the part of both private and public institution here in Taiwan.
Around 6:30 pm I was playing with my son on the pirate ship shooting styrofoam balls at each other. I told my son I was going to the bathroom and would be right back. He was laying on net and looking very tired. I left him laying there and went to the bathroom. When I came back 2 to 3 minutes later he was gone. His mother and I looked around for 20 minutes and then asked the staff to help locate him. He was not on the premises. I called the police and AIT. The police were unresponsive. Both my wife and I called several times in Chinese and English with no result. I called 911 and asked to speak to the Foreign affairs police. The operator on the phone did not understand English nor my poor Chinese and hung up on me.
Around 7:00 my son was found crying in or around the first floor parking area by as of yet unidentified person or persons. That is three floors and on the other side of the department store from wher I last saw him in Tom Dragon
The police did not show up until a very loud and violent foreign father began to threaten the staff in the reception area. The foreign affairs police were still present and by 8:00 the police asked my family to come down to the police station and make a report. I asked repeatedly for the foreign affairs police to be notified and assist. The officers on the scene refused to contact them and when I contacted them they were again unresponsive. AIT called me every ten minutes to check on the situation and around 9:00 an officer from the FAP showed up to interpret and assist at the police station. When I asked him what took him so long he said he was not sleeping but watching MLB, Major League Baseball.
After the fact it is obvious to me that in this instance I have failed as a parent. I am no new comer to Taiwan and I am more than aware of the dangers that exist here. The quality of service in Taiwan is near the bottom of the global scale. Letting my guard down for a few minutes was the cause of this problem. Weather my son wandered out of the secure area by himself or was abducted has yet to be determined and the police are in no way interested in investigating the matter further. The police have also refused to file an official report as there was no apparent wrong doing evident.
My next question is what to do next.[/quote]
First of all, you have already done something very positive by posting this message and reminding everyone with children to not become too complacent.
What else to do? It’s up to you.
First of all is finding out how your son ended up where he did and how culpable Tom Dragon is for that situation.
You could also contact AIT and find out your options in this situation.
You could take your above message and send it in to both Chinese and English newspapers.
You could send a message to Ma Ying-jeou: mayor@mail.tcg.gov.tw. I don’t think they could just press “delete” on this one.
You could also contact Taipei City Police HQ: tmpdfad@www.tmpd.gov.tw
You didn’t say when the foreign affairs police showed up. When did they arrive? Also, did you get the name of the FAP you mentioned?
There have been some postings in these forumosa.com forums for a new group called “Overseas Americans in Taiwan”. I am wondering if perhaps they could provide some legal consultation in this matter. Maybe they have dealt with similar problems and could give some pointers.
In general though my impression is that the Taiwan Police are not very interested in matters of this sort . . . . . and whether or not you could file any legal action against anyone seems like a remote possibility. Can you exactly determine who is responsible? What will be your charges?
Sorry about the ordeal your young son and your family experienced. Unforunately where I come from (US) you hear far too many stories of awful things happening to a child when a parent leaves their child unattended even for the shortest period of time. Be grateful nothing worse happened.
Eric,
I’m glad to hear that in the end your son was found safe. That is a parent’s worst nightmare.
There is a lady who works for the Taipei Times who posts here every so often looking for stories (Check out the thread concerning CH telecom). Alert her to this thread. I would also write to newspapers, AIT, and relevant government agencies.
Have you asked your son if anybody took him outside?
Eric,
I too am glad that your son was found safe.
This is my worst nightmare. I often let the kids play alone while I kick back with a newspaper or book. The strict instructions are do not leave your sister. I chase after them only when they are seperated. Or when I just need to get out there and laugh and scream with them.
Similar sissaperances have happened to me twice at Tom Dragon in Neihu. Both times however I found my child, once with a staffer, the other time eating cookies with somebody elese’s family.
Knowing they (my kids) can easily walk out, however, scares the shit out of me. I will certainly bring this up with the Tom Wulong staff next time we are there.
Hakkasonics advice as above is spot on. In the end service is all about awareness and anything you can do to raise that is good.
Chou
Eric,
Thank god your child was found. I am sitting here shaking my head. I would contact a lawyer (please send me a PM) and I will put you in contact with a few, even if you don’t have any legal recourse, and a good lawyer will tell you that and not charge you… the point is to do exactly what you have done and get the news out.
Sharky
Sorry to hear about your experience. I got lost as a small child in a department store in Portugal, which at the time would have been considered a pretty undeveloped country. As soon as I went up to the information counter and started going “I want my mammy” the staff put out messages every couple of minutes in Portuguese and then English (it took them a while to find an English speaker) and the store security guards and several shop assistants looked high and low for my parents. It was all resolved in a very short time thanks to the staff of the shopping centre.
FWIW, I could be argused that the shopping centre created a reasonable expectation that your child would be supervised, creating a duty of care owed by them to you, and that they negligently failed to exercise this duty. How far you will get with that is a mystery to me. Perhaps your current course of warning other parents is the better one.
[quote]There have been some postings in these forumosa.com forums for a new group called “Overseas Americans in Taiwan”. I am wondering if perhaps they could provide some legal consultation in this matter. Maybe they have dealt with similar problems and could give some pointers.
[/quote]
I am member of the Overseas Americans in Taiwan and I contacted Mr. Richard Hartzell. His reply was, well a little disappointing but what one would expect from a professional lawyer.
The most troubling aspect of this situation is that I can’t figure out how my four year old son just got up opened the locked gate and then walked past two employees who sole purpose is to make sure that my son doesn’t do that. I asked my son what happened and he doesn’t remember.
My best guess is that he fell asleep after playing for six hours and some body saw the opportunity and took it. When my son woke up and started speaking English they freaked out and left him there. The staff at Tom Dragon swear that no child is allowed to leave without their adult supervision. I asked the foreign affairs police to check the video tape but the officers at the FAP office won’t even give me their real names much less an official information.
The other really scary thing is that when I called 119 and asked for help the operator hung up on me. What would have happened if I hadn’t have found my son.
I have heard that kidnapping of children is common here. As a father of 2, it’s a worry.
Would kidnappers go for a eurasian kid? They look different and would be harder to keep hidden?
Thank God that your kid was recovered.
Tom Dragon sounds like just the place that child predators would hang out. What a sick world this is! I’d have photo id badges made for all my family, with the whole family in the photo, and make everyone wear them in that place, if I still went. And make sure the staff understand that the kid in the photo does NOT leave with anyone other than the adults in that photo. Not that they would probably give a rip, but it’s a start. Thank God your son is okay. Also, we will teach my son not to go to anyone who doesn’t know the “password.” Hope this is helpful.
This is the kind of story that one of the cable news channels might want to make a little story out of. It has all the right ingredients: an every-parent’s-nightmare potential tragedy with a happy ending, featuring one of those strange foreigners and his cute little kiddie, with finger-pointing at the management of a popular leisure establishment plus a lamentable response by the so-called guardians of the law, and the lingering unsolved mystery of “How DID little Johnny end up where he was found?”
There’s even scope for some undercover investigative reporting on a matter of concern to many viewers, i.e., how well do the staff take care of their little charges at such places, and how easily might something terrible happen to your child while he’s there? They could send a parent and kid to pretend to be ordinary customers and deliberately leave the child alone or encourage the child to try to wander off on its own or have another actor pretend to try to kidnap the child or something along those lines (all the while being inconspicuously watched and filmed), and see how the staff respond.
It could be worth getting a Chinese speaker to phone around the cable stations and see if any of them are interested.
[quote]There have been some postings in these forumosa.com forums for a new group called “Overseas Americans in Taiwan”. I am wondering if perhaps they could provide some legal consultation in this matter. Maybe they have dealt with similar problems and could give some pointers.
[/quote]
Sorry… but Mr. Hartzell is not a Lawyer, let alone a “professional” lawyer.
Secondly… while Tom Dragon may have had some responsibility for the safety of your child, you, as his parent, had primary responsibility for his safety. I didn’t want to lecture, but your comment above irked me… so, I would never leave my 4 year old son alone for even 3 miutes like you did. What if someone had tried to abduct your child… 3 minutes is plenty of time for that. Accidents also can happen in less than 3 minutes.
Seems you want to blame everyone but yourself. Sorry for being harsh, as I do agree that the authorities performed poorly.
In any event, as a parent, I am very happy that your child was found safe.
What is the aim of the question, “What can I do?” I mean if it is to vent, then that is one angle, but if you are hoping to inform the public and at the same time goad the police and venue operators to do a competent job, I doubt that you will even make a dent in their ineptitude.
I’m happy for you to have avoided a heartbreaking situation, but as a person familiar with Taiwan, you ought to know that pointing out the deficiencies here acheives nothing, except perhaps making someone lose face.
All the suggestions here are good ones if you want to make this incident the focal point of a crusade. It will take a lot of energy and time. It may be worth it if you feel that getting this message out is important. Do you think that people in Taiwan will be surprised by this? Will it change anything?
On the other hand, you may want to put it behind you and your wife. You learned a lesson that you probably already were aware of at a harrowing, but cheap cost.
If I thought that action could change the mindset of the Chinese here on a variety of things I’d be right out there, but I have raised a stink about matters here and in the end I just end up chasing my tail.
Good luck on what you decided to do.
(Personally, I’d be investigating how I could get a look at the video tape of the area, if one was made, just to satisfy my curiosity as to what happened. And if it were an individual who took the child, perhaps a concrete legal avenue would open if you could identify the person.)
If someone did take your son and it is on tape, then that video should be played on every news station. If that sonofabitch did it once, he/she/they will do it again.
Absolutely.
I’m so glad you found your son!!! Please do what you can to get that tape!
I have always been puzzled by who could possibly want someone else’s kid. I mean a four-year-old can’t be forced into prostitution and is too old to be adopted. :?:
Too old to be adopted?
He’ll have no more than a hazy memory of his odl family, when he turns 6.
But who the hell would want a slightly used kid? Personally, I can’t stand kids, but I know that others do like them, but enough to take someone else’s?