analog

Not for nothing, but this could most likely still result in a charge of kidnapping, regardless of what caused it. You can't hold anyone, including a child, against their will. If you took the child to another building because you couldn't find the parents and the building was on fire, that'd be a different story- basically if your reason wasn't that you had to remove and hold them to keep them from mortal danger, you can still get in trouble. There are better ways to make certain the children are safe.

A guy I went to EMT school with once mentioned that he saw a woman flat-out PUNCH (closed fist, not a slap) her 5 or 6 year old daughter in a store. He started calling the police right away, and told the woman he was doing so, then ran out and got in his car and pulled up to the front of the building. Sure enough, she comes hauling out of the store, yanking the child behind. He followed her to her car and parked right behind her so she couldn't get out until the cops came. 4 police cars pulled up... one cop went inside to see if it was caught on surveillance cam, one was a female officer who took the child into her car immediately, and the other two started questioning her. A minute or two after the cops arrived, an ambulance pulled up.

If you live in the states, your best bet is your state's child services (sometimes called department of children and families, or something to that effect)...

1. call the police
2. when the police arrive, explain what happened and that you'd like to report them to child services- the point of this is that the parents obviously aren't going to volunteer their home address to you. Or, get their license plate number. Child services can have it traced.
3. encourage other eye-witnesses to call in and report what they saw as well. The more witnesses who call in, the better. Every single witness should feel personally responsible for making sure that it gets properly reported.

People in medical professions are required by law in my state, and most others, to report child abuse/neglect (among other things). It's not something to take lightly, so don't feel like calling is a waste of time or "making a big deal". I've called in on 4 or 5 people with small children in their cars (usually minivans) who were not wearing seat-belts. Like.. walking around, moving around the cabin, unrestrained. Of course, that was after I'd called the police.

--------------------------------------------------------

Short story about one of them, skip it if you want...

On one, I ended up following the woman until a police car pulled her over. she had 3 kids, the youngest I couldn't tell but looked younger than 4, and the oldest looked 5 or 6, absolute tops. They were running around in the back of the cabin of the van, and would periodically run up to the front, stand between the front seats and talk to mom or look out the front, and then run back. It was a female officer who responded. I pulled over when she pulled her over. I told the cop I wanted information so I could report her properly. I was so pissed, it was obvious to the cop. The cop comes right back after looking into the van, and now she's pissed, too. She says to me, "wouldn't you like to just... curse her out?" and i said, "if only I could". She walks over to the car, yanks the door open and tells the woman to get out, walks her over to where I am, about 15 feet away, and says, "go for it".

I kept a calm tone and said that I was reporting her to child services, making a statement in the police report to make it public record, and hoped that the officer used every possible law on the books to charge her with for "so grossly and recklessly endangering the lives" of her three tiny children, who we found out were 6, 3, and 2. I realized that no amount of cursing or yelling would make me as happy, or have as much impact on her, as simply telling her: "you are a horrible, terrible, awful mother, and you should be ashamed of yourself."

That made her cry. Like... she started bawling. I was so mad at her stupidity and carelessness that her crying made me smile.

Another police car was pulling up, and she put the woman in the back of her car. She had the other officer watch the kids in the van, and she came back to me to get my statement. She says to me, "you know, I can't curse her out, and I was SO hoping you would, as a bystander, but I think this is much better. You made her CRY." and then she chuckled a little. She got the woman's home address (now public record on the report she was filing, for whatever she ended up being charged with) and gave it to me so I could report it to supplement the statement.