Poor Unfortunate Soul

Mum told me about this story which happened on Saturday. It was around 7 am on Saturday, when she just got up, she heard loud cries of a little girl. She rushed out of the house in her pyjamas to find a girl under twelve, all dressed up carrying a little bag, crying in panic. The girl was calling out to her immediate neighbour or perhaps to anyone at all, frantically because she was late for school. The conversation that took place between mum and the little girl:

Girl: Aunty, uncle, Aunty Uncle (when no one responded to her calls, she started crying)

Mum : (dashed out of the house looking around for the source of cries)

Little girl upon seeing my mum

Girl: I don't have a phone. I can't contact my uncle. He promised that his friend would pick me up. I am late for school. (continues crying)

So, mum rushed back into the house to get her phone. She quickly slip into more presentable clothes before stepping out of the house again.
when she got out of the house, she saw a car stopped outsede the little girl's house. In the car was a young couple. Mum quickly approached them. Before she could even ask them anything, the couple said that they would take care of things from here. They were in the car with the girl for a while. Then, the girl got off and the couple drove off. Not long after, the couple returned with a packet (assuming it's food) and handed it to the girl.

The question starts here.

Where is the little girl's family? Why is a child under twelve left unattended home alone. Has she been alone all this while? Where are the adults?

Then the story starts unfolding as the nosy neighbours starts telling the story. This neighbour who lives two doors down heard this from the tuition teacher cum daycare center that this little girl's parents are divorced. Her mother has custody of her younger sister while her father has custody of her. She is usually on her own because her irresponsible father rather spend his precious time flirting and courting with his new girlfriend than to take care of her. She is left home alone till his brother (which is the little girl's uncle) return from work. Sometimes, her uncle would bring her out for dinner. Other times, which is most of the time, she is left unattended. What happens is, this little girl would go to the daycare center after school for tuition. When she gets home, she would start cooking her own meal which is one pot meal using the rice cooker with whatever ingredients that she can find.

It can be possible that, she might have run out of ingredients to prepare anything for herself and that she is really hungry. It could also be because she was late for school and the person who promised her uncle that he/she would pick this girl up for school did not show up, so she panicked. It could also be that she might miss out on a school excursion (which is a big deal for her since she never gets to go anywhere).

The neighbours also reveal that they sometime pass some food to her because they are afraid that she is starving and also out of pity after knowing her story.

How can the adults leave her unattended in the first place? This irresponsible father of hers is just too much. How could any girl find him a good person? If he can leave his own child unattended and not feel remorse, you think he would treat you well? How can irresponsibility be a plus trait in a man? To make things worse, he chuck his responsibility to his brother. He enjoys himself by going out regularly with his now so very precious girlfriend and ignores the mess that he created. Some people just should not reproduce.

When mum told me about it, I was pretty flamed. I wanted to call the police and lodge a police report but was stopped. She feared that the little girl would be beaten by her father if the police gets involved. How could her school teachers not know about this?

Mum was quite hung on this. She kept questioning, why didn't the girl's mother took custody of both children? Why leave her to her dad?

I told her as a matter of factly, there's a possibility that this girl might not be her child. She might be the child of her now ex husband with another girlfriend. Such a pitiful life. Hope that some welfare department will look into her case and end her misery.