[user104658]

Originally Posted by Tom*

If say it was her, wouldn't she have forgotten her mum and dad by now? She was like 4...

There is a fairly large moral dilemma surrounding these issues. I'm sure there was a case in recent years, where a girl who was kidnapped young was discovered living with a traveller community. The community had no idea she was kidnapped, she had been dumped there by a couple who had claimed to be her parents, and she had lived there for nearly 10 years and was (when found) an early teen... With people she considered parents, family, friends... Her whole life... But obviously her biological parents wanted to take her away. People who were total strangers to her.

It's a tough one, morally. Kids (especially older kids / teens) are not the possessions of their parents and forcibly removing them from a safe, loving home that's the only home they've ever known would probably be hugely traumatic. In the best interests of the child... If you find them somewhere where they are safe, healthy and happy then approaching the situation very softly would be the only real option for me. Sadly I think many parents would feel it would be their "right" to "take" their child back, rip them away and not even consider the consequences.