Does This Frighten You As Much As It Does Me?

[eltf177]

http://consumerist.com/2014/08/22/de...-wrong-person/

Delta carries unaccompanied child but instead of handing girl over to the proper relatives gives her to her mother, who had been in jail for beating the girl and had no custody!

The father indicates he wasn't even aware his ex was out and isn't too happy about the situation...

Delta says it is “conducting its own investigation” and that “Delta’s unaccompanied minor handling protocols are thorough and we will be looking to see if procedures were properly followed in this instance.”

Somebody really needs to be fired for this...

[Jetfire]

That is a major screw up. When it comes to handling kids away from their guardians, the regulations need to be followed to the letter. The child should not have been handed over to anyone but the exact people the father (or whoever handed her over to Delta's care) said should be receiving her.

If for some reason those people can't pick her up and someone else is sent, then the father/releaser should be contacted immediately to confirm those people can take her.

At no point should anyone claiming to be any relation to the child (even if the child recognizes them) should be allowed to take the child without that confirmation.

I suspect in this case, the child recognized her mother, so the attendant figured it was all good and took some short circuits in the processing, not realizing the true family situation. Since it seems all is good now (had it gone worse I'm sure the article would have stated as much), it's not quite a job-losing situation. Still, a thorough investigation should be done, and those who dropped the ball should get a fairly severe reprimand as a reminder to not relax their vigilance.