Families of Missing Children and The Holidays

Posted on December 15th, 2010
by Jan Barrett

Christmas time is for family and friends to get together and celebrate the birth of Jesus. For the children, they look forward to looking under the tree on Christmas morning to see what Santa Claus has left for them. Then there is Christmas dinner. Usually all the family gets together and there is lots of food and chatter going on with everyone all hyped up over the events going on. This is a time for parents to look at their children and see just what a blessing they are. They are innocent and they are gifts from God. What better gift could we ever ask for?

On that note I thank God every day for my two sons and my three grandchildren. Since I have started reporting on missing, abused and murdered children I somewhat see things differently than I use to. I sit and watch as children that don’t even belong to me play and I am so thankful that they are able to be playing as they are.

It also makes my heart cry when I jump back in my thoughts and think about the children that are no longer with us. I not only think about the children but about their families as well. I can only imagine how it is for them to celebrate the holidays when they have lost one of their children or grandchildren.

Losing a child and having to lay them to rest is really hard to do. I had to bury twin boys that I never had the chance to get to know. They never had the chance to live in this world but it still hurts me when I think about them, but over the holidays it always seems harder.

Although knowing your child is no longer with us on this earth is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, having your child missing and not knowing if they are really dead or alive somewhere is hard as well. To be able to put on a smile at Christmas time has to be difficult. You have to though for the sake of the other children but in reality you just want to crawl into a hole and cry for the child you are grieving so heavily for.

There are so many children missing but the two that are strong on my mind is Adji Desir and Haleigh Cummings. Adji’s mother has other children she has to think about to make sure they don’t suffer as well . Then with Haleigh, her family has suffered deeply over her disappearance. Both of these children have been missing for almost two years. No clue as to where they are.

We never hear anything about Adji in the news. It is as if he never existed. What happened to him? Did he just disappear off the face of this earth without a trace? How come we don’t hear about the investigation on him? Has his case went cold? Where is Adji?

We don’t hear anything about where Haleigh is anymore in the news either. Oh sure we hear about the court cases of the people involved and family members that were arrested for drugs but never anything about what happened to Haleigh.

Is she somewhere that she is safe? Is she looking forward to Christmas Day to see what Santa Claus left for her? Does she miss her little brother, Junior or her mom and dad or her grandparents? Where is Haleigh? She isn’t my daughter but I feel so close to her. A lot of pointing at others to blame has happened in this case. Families have been torn apart, but yet no one wants to admit what happened to little Haleigh.

It is a crying shame that the only places you see these children’s names posted now are in forums or blogs on the internet. As long as the news was hot, everyone was reporting on them but as soon as the case got old, no one seems interested anymore.

One has to ask are the police still looking and just not telling anyone or have they given up looking. Have they put Haleigh’s file on the back burner? Has her case turned cold? God I hope not.

These children deserve to be found one way or another and definitely should not be forgotten.

I wish that these two children, Haleigh and Adji, along with all the other missing children would be found and brought home to be with their families in time for Christmas. Even after almost two years I know the families are still hurting. Teresa Neves, Ronald Cummings, Marie Griffis, Crystal Sheffield, Haleigh’s little brother Junior and the rest of Haleigh’s family and Adji’s family (sorry I don’t have your names) my prayers are with you all especially over the holidays. I pray that one day you will know what happened to these children.

I know this time of year has to be hard but please don’t lose your faith. God bless all of you and Merry Christmas to all.

Jan Barrett

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I think Jan Barrett is a wonderful, caring woman who I admire greatly!