Nijmegen boy, 4, left home alone, locked out on balcony

A 4-year-old boy was left home alone, crying on a balcony in Nijmegen for hours last week. A police officer rescued the boy by climbing onto the balcony from a neighbor's apartment. The officer found him "with tears on his face and large eyes", the Nijmegen police wrote on Facebook.

The police responded to the apartment after a neighbor reported that the boy had been crying on the balcony for over two hours. There was no answer at the door, so the police had to reach the child in a different way. "By climbing onto the balcony via the neighbors, our colleagues could reach the boy."

There was no sign of the child's parents. "It soon became clear that the boy was home alone. In the home there were a few things, but nothing that looked like a child friendly living environment." The officers took the boy with them to the police station, where they managed to cheer him up somewhat with "coloring books, cartoons and friendly police officers", the police wrote.

Youth Care was called in and they managed to find a foster family for the boy, elsewhere in the country, that same day.

"Let's together make sure that our future teachers, doctors, top athletes, soldiers and heroes all have the same opportunities. Call us or other aid agencies if you have doubts about situations", the police conclude.