Family Leave Son at Christmas Lights, Realise 14 hours Later

Step up, step up new candidates for parents of the year!

A Melbourne couple took two carloads of children to see a Christmas light display, but accidentally left behind their five-year-old son Alexander. He was discovered wandering alone at 11.30pm on Sunday night in a street in Vermont South after his family had gone to look at the lights.

These things happen, right? But Alexander’s parent’s were not found until 2pm the next day. The boy spent the night in the watch house at Nunawading police station and was then taken into the care of the Department of Human Services (DHS) on Monday morning.

The parents told police they had so many children with them, it took them until lunchtime on Monday to realise he was missing and contact police.

Lunchtime? Don’t these people do head counts? Tuck their kids into bed? Wonder why there is a spare seat at the breakfast table?

I’m hoping there is a crucial bit of information that hasn’t been revealed yet. A police spokeswoman said she was unaware of why it took so long to reunite Alexander with his parents.

[Source]