CANADA • BOY 2 years old, NO ID - PARENTS MISSING? ~ Ottawa ON

Two-year-old found wandering Ottawa street alone
Police search for parents; child unable to identify himself
April 28, 2011

OTTAWA — A two-year-old boy, barefoot and shaking, was found wandering the streets of Mechanicsville alone just after 6 a.m Thursday.

The boy, with blond curly hair, was wearing pyjamas and holding a soother as he made his way along Hinchey Avenue. A motorist on his way to work saw him and called police.

An officer took a cellphone picture of the boy, who was too young to identify himself, and started knocking on doors. Paramedics checked the child and wrapped him in a blanket.

The boy was transported to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario on Smyth Road, where he was assessed by a doctor.

According to a hospital report, the boy, while scared and shaking, was in good physical condition.

Hospital staff and Ottawa police notified The Children’s Aid Society, as required by law.

The Children’s Aid Society won’t discuss specific cases publicly, but, according to police officers and medical staff, a child-welfare caseworker is investigating to see if the boy was at risk or this was simply a one-off incident in which a young child wandered out of his home.

According to medical staff, the boy was to be placed in state or foster care until the review was completed.

A police canvass of the area turned up no other information on the boy.

He was found in front of a house rented by members of a rock band. They were sleeping when two police cruisers and an ambulance raced onto Hinchey Avenue.

Police then went next door and knocked on Kirk Brydon’s front door. He didn’t recognize the boy in the officer’s cellphone picture.

Brydon, 34, directed police around the corner and down Lyndale Avenue because several young children live in that area. Police, still trying to find the boy’s home, then canvassed Lyndale Avenue.

Chantal Emond-Roy, 36, was standing on Lyndale with her daughter, waiting for a school bus, when police pulled up at 7:50 a.m.

She didn’t recognize the boy’s photo, either, and told police to go to a family shelter two blocks further west.

“I told them to go there because two months ago I found a kid who had wandered off from the shelter,” Emond-Roy said. “I hope they find the boy’s family.”

The family shelter, home to underprivileged children and abused women, said it had no reports of a missing boy.

At around 8 a.m., police stopped Nathalie McGrath, 34, as she walked on a street in Mechanicsville, a low-income neighbourhood historically known for its many auto shops.

“The cop showed me a picture of the boy and my heart dropped because I have two kids. I didn’t know the boy and that’s what I told the cops,” McGrath said.

It was not known Thursday evening if the police had found the boy’s parents because they have yet to officially release any details about this case.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/year+found+wandering+Ottawa+street+alone/4693074/story.html#ixzz1KsW2k1qg

Lost boy, 2, reunited with parents
April 29, 2011

A two-year-old toddler found wandering alone on a chilly morning in Mechanicsville has been reunited with his parents.

The boy was picked up by police in the early morning on a resident's front lawn. Officers knocked on neighbours' doors, asking if anyone recognized him from a cell-phone picture snapped by police.

"They showed up at about 6:30 in the morning," said Kirk Brydon.

Police said no charges will be laid against the parents, although it was a stern reminder for parents to be watchful of their kids.