This is the subject of a book written by Probation Officer and author Ruth Dugdall who recently moved to Luxembourg from the U.K. Although a work of fiction Ruth, whose main protagonist in ‘Nowhere Girl’ is also a probation officer, spent a lot of time researching the plausibility of such a plot line. Probation officers manage offenders in order to protect the public and reduce the incidence of reoffending. They work closely with people in prisons and in the community and therefore have real insight into the reasons why and how people commit crimes. The idea for this her 5th book was sparked by a series of attempted kidnappings in and around Luxembourg. Ruth, a mother herself, was concerned about the lack of information for parents and the general complacency she experienced ‘Luxembourg is a very safe city’ she was consistently told.
Her book is an ingenious mix of two plot lines that explore the anguish of two mothers faced with the potential loss of their children. A teenager abducted at the Schueberfouer and a young boy dying of cancer. At one of the local launches of the book she addressed a group of professionals involved in the area of child protection. The gathering had been invited by the British Consular as part of a consultation process for a new leaflet on Child Protection in Luxembourg for the English-speaking community. Ruth spoke about her experience researching the book, and the many open and generous professional contacts she had made in exploring the underlying themes of not only child abduction/trafficking but also access to health care for people living in the country illegally. Again and again she was told that her fiction could indeed become reality, and in fact there had already been cases of children who could not access health care because their parents did not have health insurance.
When asked what messages she hoped people, in particular parents in Luxembourg, would take away from the book. Apart from enjoying the book as a fiction she hoped that maybe it would open up more debate about the sense of dis-connection some foreigners may feel living here and most importantly the assumption that Luxembourg is the ‘safe’ city. In her experience backed up by her research, she likened the situation here to any other major city. In fact with it’s central location in Europe anyone wanting to abduct a child could easily be across borders within a very short time indeed. Parents should always be vigilant to and talk openly with their children about keeping safe, inside and outside the home as well as online, and maybe we should not just assume that an apparently ‘safe’ city is in fact safe for all its inhabitants.
Nowhere Girl by Ruth Dugdall (2015) is now available from Chapter 1 English Bookshop and online from Amazon.
Further Information: Recommended Reading
Gripping Book puts Child Protection on Agenda – child protection issues in Luxembourg were put under the spotlight at a recent British Embassy gathering to celebrate a new book by a British author, Ruth Dugdall. This is the original article that appeared in the Luxemburger Wort Online on 10th November.
Talking About Stranger Safety – a useful article from Scholastic.com, that gives advice on how to have a calm, honest, age-appropriate conversation with your child about meeting strangers and avoiding potential dangers.
Preventing Abductions – a pragmatic article on the reality of child abductions, explaining in a nonsensationalist way: strategies on prevention; how to talk to kids about strangers; and what to do if your child is abducted.
Talking to Kids & Teens about Safety & Abduction – Q&A on child safety by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
