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I've mad lots of errors, including losing track of my son in the mall. My kids are adults now, but when they were kids, I never went to bed without being sure they were home.

The real question about the VDs is not whether they had bad luck during a momentary lapse of judgement, but whether they were frequently out of the home or locked away in the garage. (Had they, for exmple, made any provision for handling a fire in the main part of the house. And what about illness? Seven year olds are prone to wake up in the middle of the night with coughs, sore throats, etc.)

Parents usually give up some of their freedom and privacy when they become parents.

I understand your concern, however, and will withhold judgement of these particular people until I hear more. And I would never excuse the perp in any way, even if the parents turn out to be consistently neglectful. No on is responsible for another adult's actions. But I think parents who hear about this will tend to be more careful.

"I understand your concern, however, and will withhold judgement of these particular people until I hear more. And I would never excuse the perp in any way, even if the parents turn out to be consistently neglectful. No on is responsible for another adult's actions. But I think parents who hear about this will tend to be more careful."

The adults are back in charge!

Thank you so much for an intelligent and compassionate response.

I think the real question is: Is the Van Dam's alleged lifestyle a proven fact, or innuendo and rumor started by this Rick Roberts guy for some unknown reason.

The NewsWeak article only highlights Robert's allegations, and Thyme parrots NewsWeak.

The alleged condemning "no comment" quotes posted from various interviews....I didn't see any of these, but I will assume that they could be easily verified so I shall assume that they are true.

The "no comments" are troubling, but not proof positive of a "guilty" lifestyle.

I think, likewise, that we are all horrified by whatever happened to this poor little girl and would like to see the perp properly punished, i.e. laden with heavy chain and sunk slowly off the Santa Monica pier.

However, if the VDs were preoccupied with themselves and their buddies to the extent that they were not focused on their kids and their safety, I think they probably would share some of the blame. This, however, remains unproved.