LONDON, England (CNN) -- An English girl has been missing from a Portugal resort for more than a week, leaving anguished parents and an angry British media staking out Portuguese border crossings.

"Words cannot describe the anguish and despair that we are feeling," said Madeleine McCann's father, Gerry McCann.

"Please, please, do not hurt her. Please do not scare her, please tell us where to find her," the girl's mother, Kate McCann, said in a video plea for the girl's release.

Portuguese police are defending their search for Madeleine, who turns 4 on Saturday. Police say she was abducted from her parent's resort apartment in Portugal's Algarve. The McCanns had left their daughter in bed as they dined nearby.

Portugal's ambassador to Britain, Antonio Santana Carlos, released a statement saying, "Trust the authorities. They're doing their best."

But British media filming roadblocks on Portugal's border with Spain caught police sitting in their cars and waving vehicles by during a recent rainshower.

"Clueless" was a front page headline in London's Daily Mirror newspaper earlier this week.

Andrew Forrester, from Wales, was helping search for Madeleine and found the effort of Portuguese police underwhelming.

"To be honest, it seems as though there is very little going on," he said. "I'm sure they are trying, but the police presence doesn't seem to be massive, which I thought that maybe it would be."

Portuguese police said they were following procedures and that they operated differently than their counterparts at Scotland Yard.

"Some details can't be brought to the public because of the law. I ask the British people to understand things are not equal between UK and Portugal legal systems," said Olegario Sousa, a chief inspector with the Portuguese police.

Armando Ferreira, president of the National Police Union, also defended the search.

"Portuguese police are making a great effort. I have colleagues volunteering during their days off to help," he said, according to a Reuters news service report.

"We're doing everything to find the child alive," Reuters quoted Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva as saying.

British soccer star David Beckham weighed in on the case Friday, making a video plea for information that could lead to the girl's safe return to her parents. "Please, please help us," Beckham pleads as he holds up a missing person poster for Madeleine.

While the British press was critical of the police efforts, the girl's family spared police of any criticism concerning the search.

"They're not trying to do a bad job," he said of police. "They're working very hard, they're giving information when it's appropriate. Let's give them our support."