Missing girl’s case sparks debate over privacy, protection

A 13-year-old girl miss­ing for 26 days has be­come the sub­ject of pub­lic scruti­ny since her dis­cov­ery in a for­est with a 49-year-old man, but a coun­selling ther­a­pist is warn­ing that the child is now at risk of fur­ther harm from the very ex­po­sure sur­round­ing her res­cue.

Coun­selling ther­a­pist Gre­go­ry Isaacs says the re­sponse is wrong, warn­ing that the pub­lic ex­po­sure sur­round­ing her dis­cov­ery could cause fur­ther harm to a child whose cir­cum­stances re­main un­clear.

“She’s way too young, and the lev­el of ex­po­sure and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty fac­tor is too high,” he said, stress­ing that she can­not be placed in an adult en­vi­ron­ment, even if she may have be­haved like one.