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Montreal Mom-hunt

August 19, 2005 permalink

Once again, be on the lookout for a mother caring for her own kids, this time in the Montreal area. The pictures are not available on the web.

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Mom, grandma snatch kids

Police investigating kidnapping; No Amber Alert necessary, authorities say, because children not believed to be in danger

Two children were kidnapped by their mother and grandmother during what was supposed to be an arranged family visit at a youth protection office.

The Montreal police released photos of the children, 8-year-old Amalia Jean Baptiste and her 5-year-old brother, Moise, several hours after the children were abducted Wednesday afternoon.

The children's 38-year-old mother lost custody of her son and daughter last year and the youngsters were placed with foster parents. Their mother had not been heard from since January.

Wednesday, foster parents brought the children to a youth protection office on Henri Bourassa Blvd. E. in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough for a supervised visit with the children's 67-year-old grandmother.

"The grandmother and mother were waiting outside as the foster parents arrived for the supervised visit," said Jocelyne Boudreault, a spokesperson for the Centre Jeunesse de Montreal. "It all happened in a matter of minutes. It appeared to be planned because they had a taxi waiting nearby. The mother threatened the foster parents and gave them the impression she was armed."

The grandmother and mother tried to jump into a waiting taxi with the children but a foster parent told the driver what was happening. The driver refused to move and the mother, grandmother and two children left on foot.

Boudreault said both women had the right to supervised visits but that the mother had not requested to see her children since she disappeared.

The grandmother made regular supervised visits to the children, Boudreault said. "But until (Wednesday) the grandmother had given us no sign she would be an accomplice in the kidnapping of the children. What we hope now is that they are doing well and that they will give us some news."

Montreal police Constable Benoit Couture said the police are treating the case as a kidnapping. But the police would not release the identity of either the mother or the grandmother for reasons that Couture would not explain.

He said the police would have released the women's names if the case merited issuing an Amber Alert, the child-abduction response system where information is diffused to the media immediately.

Couture said one criterion for using the alert is when investigators believe a child's life is in danger.

"That is not the case this time," he said.

Both children are black, slightly over 3 feet tall and thin.

Moise has brown eyes and short black curly hair. He was wearing a dark green shirt and dark green pants.

Amalia has brown eyes and short, curly black hair with braids. She was wearing pink pants and a pink shirt.

The police are asking anyone who sees the children to call 911. Anyone with information concerning this case can contact the Montreal police at (514) 280-0128.

pcherry@thegazette.canwest.com

Source: Montreal Gazette

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