NY NY - Patrick Alford, 7, Brooklyn, 22 Jan 2010 - #1

[Salem]

If they really did track Patrick's scent to a major highway, and then lost it, it sounds like he may have been picked up.

I wonder why the foster mom had to go back up to the apartment to take the call? Did another child run down and tell her she had a call on a phone in the apartment? Was it a cell phone? Why would she leave him alone?

I am also very worried that his family does not think that Patrick is trying to get back to his mother.

This is not making sense. Would you leave a 7 year old out in the trash disposal area of a VERY large apartment building while you went back UPstairs to take a phone call????? :furious: I don't think so. The child was not familiar with the building, had only been there 3 weeks, right? 1st week to settle in, 2nd week to get used to how he gets out to go to school and return back, etc. 3rd week to do a little exploring, maybe? Only Patrick is not exploring - he is missing.

I promise to eat my hat if the foster family has nothing to do with this, but if they don't, then chances are that someone in that building snagged him. I'm thinking he did not get to the Belt Parkway under his own steam. Was it a tracking dog or a cadaver dog that tracked his scent?

Please come home Patrick!

Salem

 

[webrocket]

This is not making sense. Would you leave a 7 year old out in the trash disposal area of a VERY large apartment building while you went back UPstairs to take a phone call????? :furious: I don't think so. The child was not familiar with the building, had only been there 3 weeks, right? 1st week to settle in, 2nd week to get used to how he gets out to go to school and return back, etc. 3rd week to do a little exploring, maybe? Only Patrick is not exploring - he is missing.

I promise to eat my hat if the foster family has nothing to do with this, but if they don't, then chances are that someone in that building snagged him. I'm thinking he did not get to the Belt Parkway under his own steam. Was it a tracking dog or a cadaver dog that tracked his scent?

Please come home Patrick!

Salem

Anything is possible but while the actions of the foster mother were certainly negligent, I don't see her involvement. Just my initial observations.

If someone snatched him at Starett City, why would they leave by foot? The dogs picked up the kids scent to the Belt Parkway.

While I am no expert on police canines, I doubt a cadaver dog would be used at this stage of the investigation. I'm trying to visualize that - someone dragging a body that has been dead long enough for cadaver dogs to follow?

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Address: 130 Vandalia Avenue in Brooklyn

ETA: Link to goodle map of address: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=130+V...322,-73.883473&spn=0.001746,0.003235&t=h&z=18

Looks like his building would back up to some green/park space.

Respectfully snipped.

Patrick's apartment is just under 1 mile from the Belt Parkway.

 

[daisy7]

How far is it from the apartment building to where the dogs last got his scent?

Prayers for Patrick!!

ETA: Just saw you posted this I4G -- thanks!

 

[JulieR]

This is not making sense. Would you leave a 7 year old out in the trash disposal area of a VERY large apartment building while you went back UPstairs to take a phone call????? :furious: I don't think so. The child was not familiar with the building, had only been there 3 weeks, right? 1st week to settle in, 2nd week to get used to how he gets out to go to school and return back, etc. 3rd week to do a little exploring, maybe? Only Patrick is not exploring - he is missing.

I promise to eat my hat if the foster family has nothing to do with this, but if they don't, then chances are that someone in that building snagged him. I'm thinking he did not get to the Belt Parkway under his own steam. Was it a tracking dog or a cadaver dog that tracked his scent?

Please come home Patrick!

Salem

Well I'm not going to help eat your hat unless it's chocolate flavored, then you have to share, but I do agree something is not right.

The foster mom told the Daily News that Patrick has been running away from the day he come in.... He's trying to get back to his mom."

That statement right there gets me!! If he had been running since day one why would she go back up stairs to take a call and leave him there?'

Yet his aunt said she didn't feel he was trying to return to his mother.

 

[JulieR]

The sad truth is while it would be nice to believe all foster parents do it for the love of children. While I do believe most do or at least it starts that way, some just like the states money, very sad.
Honestly it is something I would love to do (be a foster parent), but I could never handle it. It would rip me apart to have to hand a child back over, to a parent that one time abused them. I would want to keep and love them all. My husband and I talked about it one time and he said no way, he is worse then I am when it comes to kids.

 

[nervous_nellie]

we have learned in other cases that dogs can scent live persons or cadavers that are being transported in cars and even underwater.... not saying that is how he got anywhere...just saying that people do not have to be on foot necessarily to be scented by trained dogs...

iirc this was discussed quite a bit in the haleigh cummings and caylee anthoney cases.... please correct me if im way off on this...will go look for links.

http://dogs.about.com/cs/searchandrescue/a/cadaver_dogs.htm

the title is of cadaver dogs, but a few paragraphs down discusses all scenting/tracking dogs.

 

[webrocket]

we have learned in other cases that dogs can scent live persons or cadavers that are being transported in cars and even underwater.... not saying that is how he got anywhere...just saying that people do not have to be on foot necessarily to be scented by trained dogs...

iirc this was discussed quite a bit in the haleigh cummings and caylee anthoney cases.... please correct me if im way off on this...will go look for links.

http://dogs.about.com/cs/searchandrescue/a/cadaver_dogs.htm

the title is of cadaver dogs, but a few paragraphs down discusses all scenting/tracking dogs.

I'm not familiar with the details of those other cases as it pertains to dogs. I am assuming scent dogs were tracking Patrick's scent on sidewalks until they reached the Belt Parkway.

 

[CHICANA]

Unfortunately, I think you guys are right about the lack of coverage having to do with the fact he was in state custody. NYC Dept of Child Protective Services have had several high profile F'up's in the last few years and have caught A LOT of heat. The most high profile lately was the case of poor Nixmary Brown which was really just sheer negligence on the part of her case worker. Anyone who layed eyes on that child, trained or not, could have been able to tell she was in a horribly abusive situation. However, there are plenty of good case workers and they are stuck between a rock and a hard place because they are not being given the funding by NY state to do their jobs appropriately and I think this is the case in most states. Workers have so many case loads they can't keep up, they can't devote the time needed to each individual case. It is a travesty as I am certain every state in this union could find programs which were much less important than protecting the welfare of children. Anywhooo, off my soap box now, sorry about that.

My point was I agree with the sumation the state does not want a lot of coverage on this because it will just make them continue to look bad and negligent. I wish they had more stringent application processes for foster parents. I know there are lots of great ones but there are also plenty who do it simply for the money and too often they don't use that money to properly take care of the children they are supposed to be supervising.

Poor Patrick. I wonder if life was so bad there he was that desperate to get away? Or, almost as sad, he might have just missed his mom so much he was trying to get back to her.
Sadly, I have to wonder if something did not go awry inside the apt with the foster mother or father or an older child and Patrick was harmed in some way. People let things slip unconsciously and the fact the foster mother said they were going to the trash compactor makes me cringe a little bit.

They have high case loads because there are too many kids that are in the system that don't need to be there.
I recently got a call from a friend I hadn't seen in years, they want to take her 11 year old son because she smoked pot (never when he was at home and he's unaware that she even did it).
A neighbor got mad and called the hotline, and my friend told the caseworker everything because she wanted help with her 17 year old daughter. She thought they would help but instead they used everything against her.
If she would have called me first I would have told her to keep her mouth shut. I can't believe she volunteered for a urine test!!

His evaluations show he is well adjusted and healthy, with no signs of abuse.
I don't condone drug use, but I'm terrified for him because I don't think the state will do a better job. This kid will be devastated if after 11 years he's suddenly given to strangers. They said grandpa isn't an option because of the strained relationship between him and his daughter.

In Patrick's case, they likely didn't allow mom to contact a family member before taking him and once a kids in the system, it's hard to get him out. Plus the state doesn't get any federal money if they just let the kid go with a family member.

 

[CHICANA]

New article today. We now have HIS BIO MOTHER'S NAME! (But still not the foster mother.) And it turns out she really did leave him outside when she took out the trash......

Cops looking for 7-year-old Staten Island boy missing from foster home

Police are seeking the public's help in finding a 7-year-old Staten Island boy who went missing from a Brooklyn foster home over the weekend.

Patrick Alford was last seen at about 9 p.m. Friday, leaving the lobby of the Spring Creek development at 130 Vandalia Ave. in East New York.

He had just been placed with a foster mother in the apartment complex three weeks prior, after his own mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, 23, of New Brighton, was arrested on petit larceny charges, said Ms. Rodriguez's aunt, Brenda Ortiz.

[snip]

"He had no coat on," Ms. Ortiz said, adding that police dogs lost his scent in the area of the Belt Parkway.

"We're looking ourselves," she said. "We went to Brooklyn, we put out fliers."

His foster mother, who authorities did not identify to the Advance, told authorities that she and Patrick went through the lobby of the building to throw out the garbage, according to Ms. Ortiz. She went back upstairs to her apartment to take a phone call and when she came back down, Patrick was gone, Ms. Ortiz said.

[snip]

Ms. Ortiz said she didn't believe Patrick was trying to return to his mother and couldn't think of where he might be headed. "We don't know," she said. "We think something happened to him. I don't know. Everybody's a wreck."

More: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/cops_look_for_7-year-old_state.html

So she left him in the lobby ?

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

So she left him in the lobby ?

We're not sure. Either she left him in the lobby, or she left him somewhere else and someone else saw him in the lobby.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

This does not sound good.

Helicopters hovering over Mariners Harbor

Police activity continues in Mariners Harbor as authorities are believed to be searching for a 7-year-old Staten Island boy -- Patrick Alford -- who went missing from a Brooklyn Foster home over the weekend.

Cops remained tightlipped as to what exactly they were searching for, but appears they were acting on a tip and canvassing the community around the 100 block of South Avenue. Several residents called the Advance complaining of helicopters whirring overhead.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/helicopters_hovering_over_mari.html

 

[webrocket]

This does not sound good.

Helicopters hovering over Mariners Harbor

Police activity continues in Mariners Harbor as authorities are believed to be searching for a 7-year-old Staten Island boy -- Patrick Alford -- who went missing from a Brooklyn Foster home over the weekend.

Cops remained tightlipped as to what exactly they were searching for, but appears they were acting on a tip and canvassing the community around the 100 block of South Avenue. Several residents called the Advance complaining of helicopters whirring overhead.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/helicopters_hovering_over_mari.html

Not good at all.

I was not familiar with Mariner's Harbor and saw that it was on the northwest tip of Staten Island. Looks like he might have been picked up on the Belt Parkway, over the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island, then driven on the Staten Island Expressway.

I can just envision the poor boy saying he wanted to go to S.I. and some creep said "sure kid" then the unthinkable happened.

 

[b4e]

Has there been any further news about the search?

 

[Salem]

Its been 22 hours since an article was written about this little guy.

Come home Patrick!

Salem

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Now 4 full days + without any sign of Patrick. What in the world is going on?!?!?

 

[breezyinbk]

I lived in starrett city all my life up until recently but pretty much know the ins and outs of the area. Every floor of every building has a trash chute in the hallways and a recycling room. Its literally steps from your door. There are also 2 elevators and 2 staircases, 1 staircase to the lobby and the other leading to the rear of the building. That particular building (A5, above person was correct), is only 2 blocks away from the belt parkway. Pennsylvania avenue is a busy road, but if he took louisiana avenue then chances are possible that noone saw him. Louisiana avenue is deserted compared to pennsylvania. At night over there its usually more cars speeding towards the belt and you'll rarely see someone parking their car, walking home, etc. At age 7 I knew that highway led to staten island, if he was used to traveling with his biological family then chances are he knew too. You can see the verranzo bridge leading the way towards the island. Someone posted that the closest train was 20 minutes away walking, although that is true, the main road would be flatlands avenue which is a busy road and in the cold at night time it must feel way longer than 20 minutes and had he got on the bus at night with no jacket I'm sure the bus operator would've phoned it in.

I'm questioning his running away, if he went down the stairs, there's no way she wouldn't have known, those doors slam close especially on windy days, its very loud. If he took the elevator she would have known that too, you can hear when that door closes as well and if that was the case (being a mom) she would run downstairs and make it there before the elevator does.

What scares me is that surrounding starrett city there are a lot of woods and grassy areas, its along the water, its very dark and of course that area has its history with crime. Local media has been reporting it on a daily basis. My mom still lives in starrett and says along with other residents that authorities and safety officers have been working around the clock in the area, knocking on every residents door, passing fliers, etc

I pray he's fine and will be found.

 

[blue_the_puppy]

breezy in bk, :Welcome-12-june: and thank you for your helpful post. it is so good to hear that the residents of starrett are assisting in the search for patrick.

as for the foster moms story, it is looking fishier by the minute.

poor patrick. please let us know if you hear anything more from your mom or others in the area.

 

[Salem]

Welcome Breezy and thank you so much for the info.

Do we know what floor the foster family lived on? I see we have narrowed the building to A5.

Thanks,

Salem

 

[dreamweaver]

Welcome to WS breezyinbk:
Any thoughts on how Patrick got away from foster mom in the lobby of the building?

Do neighbors feel there is something wrong with the foster mom's story?
Or is the media not telling it correctly?

I hope Patrick is found soon.