Mum's plea: I'm at my wits' end

All Piari Cooper wants for Christmas is to know her 13-year-old runaway girl is back at home, safe and sound.
"I just want her home. Please come back, Shiloh," said Ms Cooper, of Hikurangi.
Shiloh's parents believe she is safe but they remain worried.
The teenager didn't return home from a friend's place on Saturday night and is thought to be hiding out with other friends.
Her parents reported to the police on Sunday that Shiloh was missing after their attempts to track her down failed.
Ms Cooper, her husband Peter and the older of their 12 children have spent an anxious week handing out flyers, putting up posters, driving around Whangarei and Hikurangi streets, and visiting Shiloh's friends.
"Someone knows where she is when they should be seeing that she goes home, not helping her hide," Ms Cooper said.
The police were treating Shiloh's case as "just another runaway kid", Ms Cooper said.
"They're probably dealing with lots of these incidents, but I can't just sit back and not do anything myself," she said.
"I think there's a contradictory message out there.
"It's illegal to leave a child under 14 in a house on their own but here's a 13-year-old girl, out there on the streets maybe, who knows where, and it's `just another runaway'."
"I've got six girls, and I'm not the kind of mother that just lets them do what they want. I'm a good parent and I do not think it's right that so often parents don't know where their kids are."
Whangarei police Senior Sergeant Cliff Metcalfe said if there were no immediate concerns for the safety of a young runaway the matter was usually considered low priority.
An initial report would be taken and if the missing young person was not home within 24 hours there would be a follow-up, Mr Metcalfe said.
"We keep an eye out for them but we don't specifically go out looking for them. We have no powers to knock on doors and enter people's houses looking for runaways," Mr Metcalfe said.
Patrols often picked up missing youngsters who were hanging around the streets at night, he said.
That is no comfort to Shiloh's mother.
"Shiloh might be just having what she thinks is a big adventure, being a naughty teenager ... or she might be upset about something," Ms Cooper said.
"Please help me tell her that if she's not happy at home we can sort something out - just come home.
"I'm at my wits' end. We're all really tired - but I'll have enough energy to keep looking for her until she's found and she's safely home again."