Agreed!

"Secondly, it's not the mother's fault that the kid decided to run ahead of the group of children she walked with... the child would have been perfectly safe if she had stuck with the group."

Thats exactly the point the OP is making. The child is SEVEN years old and does not JUDGE what walking ahead of the crowd could do to them. Parents should TEACH their children these things, and lets face it, they're seven years old.. they're either a.) not going to take it seriously or b.) not think of being kidnapped if they slip up and do differently. It is a CHILD. You can not blame a CHILD for being kidnapped when the parents couldn't either pick the child up or put the child on a bus.

i read on cbs news that her father is in prison for a drug possession charge.
i agree that the mother can't be blamed. she's on her own right now. maybe she was working. if anything, the school should have had a bus stop nearby.

I do think its unfair to place the blame on the mom. Its not unheard of for young kids to be out alone on the back streets of our town-whether on their bikes, or walking. But-at the same time. So, maybe she felt it was safe for them to be walking--in a group--home from school. But, personally I'd never let my 7 year old walk a mile without me. I'd be more worried about traffic than someone actually taking him. I've only now gotten to where I'll let him go out in our yard without me.

See my above post.

^^sorry, that made almost no sense. Just forget where it says 'at the same time'...they should really let you edit this once you post.

We have cougars out here, I would not let my kids walk the mile alone. If there were no cougars they would have to be with other children and we would have two way radio's so should one step out of the pack the others could "tattle". I do walk 2-3 miles with my kids almost daily just to spend time with them, it doesn't take long at all, about 40-45 minutes, they don't dawdle.

That situation is a little different. If there were wild animals roaming about I wouldn't let my children walk alone, either. But that has nothing to do with their age. If this family lives in a bad neighborhood, I wouldn't have let them walk alone, either. But in those cases it's about the safety of the neighborhood, not the age of the child. Obviously now that a child has been apparently kidnapped, parents may take more precautions, but it isn't about the chlid's age, it's about the safety of the neighborhood.

And reading the article, I find it wasn't her walking TO school. It was AFTER school, at 2:45pm. But again, she was walking with a GROUP of people and ran off on her own because she got upset. Still no reason to blame the parents for not being there to walk with her.

Cougars as in... the big cat, or women who prey on younger men?

I honestly thought the same thing!

I don't see anything wrong with a child walking home in a group and with a sister/brother. My brothers and sisters and I used to all walk to the bus stop, then catch the bus to school, and then reverse that in the afternoon. I was the oldest and was responsible for herding them altogether (5 of us) and when I went to High school that became my brother. We were just taught to stick together. It was just the way it was.

I started walking my little brother to school when we were 7 and 6. It was a busy (as in lots of people) street with a lollipop lady at the crossing. Nothing inadvertant ever happened.

I dont think this poor girls mother is to blame for this unless she had a hand in this tragedy(like planning her kidnapping or murder).I think the mother could have made better decisions for her children. If she had to work she could have put them in an after school program or daycare or made arrangements for someone (family member or baby sitter) to at least make sure they made it to and/or from school safely.

When I was in kindergarten my mom dropped me off at a new babysitters house in the AM and I remember the babysitter telling me to walk to school. I honestly remember not having a clue in what direction the school was in or where I was at. I walked in the wrong direction for like 20 mins and went back to the babysitters crying cuz i couldnt find my school. My sister was left in my care alot as a child. I was probably 8 or 9 when they started leaving me home alone with her she is 22 months younger than me. Not appropriate at all.

My mom told me they found the girl in a landfill. But i just heard on the news it hasnt been confirmed to be her yet. As soon as she told me, I told her that my son will never be walking to and from elementary school alone and the school he will go to is literally 2 blocks from my house. I dont give a crap. I will get up every morning and walk with him and pick him up and walk with him home. If I have to work or go to school when he is supposed to get out a family member will pick him up or he will go to the after school program. This is so preventable. =(

I wouldn't blame the parents but personally I wouldn't let my (future) kids walk a mile to school just knowing what people are like these days, group or not...

agreed. times have changed.

It says in this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33410779/ns/today-today_people/ that the little girl was walking with about 100 other kids on the way home. That's a lot of kids to keep up with. It's very easy for 1 to go missing & nobody notice. How are they supposed to keep everyone together with that many kids? Ridiculous! Anways, it also says that there had been a report of a hispanic woman & 2 hispanic men trying to pick up a child in the same area that the little girl went missing! How come after that anyone would let their child continue on the same route home when they hadn't found the suspects in question? I hate things like this that could have been prevented.

Just woke up and am watching the news--they found the little girl's body in a landfill in Georgia. This is so horrible--but I saw it coming. Hopefully people will take this as a lesson to keep their children closer to them.

And the sheriff of her town said that there was approximately 94 sex offenders in a 7 mile radius around the little girl's home. I'm sure the story will be online at some point-but I don't have the time to dig it up right now. Have to drive my kid to school..ya know, instead of making him walk.

That's the EXACT reason ALL sex offenders and pedophiles should IMMEDIATELY be put down like the rabid mutts they are.

indeed.

I think its more lazy to drive your child to school because you can't be arsed to walk a mile.
*hides from projectiles*

I find it interesting that it seems to be mostly Brits who are defending the idea of kids walking to school. The only people who have said they don't believe kids should walk a mile are Americans. But then in the UK people generally walk far more anyway. Americans are far more likely to drive a short distance than we are.

This is sad, but I don't think the blame should be placed on anyone except the sick fuck who kidnapped and killed her. Usually when school is let out, there is a lot going on within a mile of the school. Buses coming and going, parents driving by with their kids, other kids walking home, crosswalk people at several corners, etc. It's a busy time of day. I don't blame the parents for assuming their child would be safe in a group on that short walk home. In fact in my elementary school, you had to walk if you lived within a mile. I'm not sure if I'd permit my child to walk alone at that age, but the same thing could have happened if the girl had been playing alone in her front yard. I'm sure the grief they're feeling is enough without people putting them blame on them. They very well could have taught her to stay in the group while walking, but we all know kids don't always listen to their parents. Hopefully this shows OTHER kids how important it is to be alert and keep yourself safe when there aren't adults around. Hopefully they find who did it.

I remember when my cousin was in 8th grade, I was in 5th & my other cousin in 4th, we walked home to my gandma's house once. it was lilterally around the corner & up the street! we got in soo much trouble for doing it. my grandparents were so scared that someone would take us. so we always had rides to & from school.
I will never have my kids walk alone to & from school. like tamika said i'll have someone taking them. times have changed & we have a lot of pervs in the world!! I don't blame the mother BUT this all could have been prevented.

I think it all depends on where you live. I grew up on the outskirts of a very small town, so by the time I was 10 or 11 I was walking or riding a bike a mile or so down the road to my friends house. That doesn't mean my parents didn't worry or advise me on how to be careful, but for the most part it was considered safe and acceptable. By the time I was 13 my friends and I would walk a couple miles, living in a different but still very small town, to the store for snacks and stuff. Our parents did not disapprove of us taking long walks by ourselves, because not much happened where we lived to make them worry. If I'd grown up in a different state and in different towns, it could have been a very different story. I don't think there are more pervs today than there were when I was a kid, I just think it's seen more on TV and stories like this one get more media attention than in the past.

This girls situation could have been prevented by a number of factors, but nobody will ever know. Like I said, the same thing could have happened to her if she was standing outside her home. I'm sure everyone who lives in that city right now is reevaluating how to keep their kids safer. Even the best most cautious parent in the world could fall victim to something like this.