Neglect??

PlainP

Just need a bit of advice.....

I live on a busy council estate, there are tons of children always playing outside (including my own two children).
There is a family who have three children a girl of about 9-10 a boy of 6-7 and another girl of about 2-3. When the other children are out playing I assume the brother and sister mind the youngest child, but I have noticed on more than one occasion as in when all of the children on the estate would be in school that the youngest girl is allowed to roam the estate on her own.

We had an incident with flooding a while ago when the shore overflowed and there was a huge flood on the road. This child in question was there on her own "splashing" around. When I saw this I immediately thought that she could have easily drowned as there was a huge amount of water and she is so young.

I was chatting to my sister who works in a creche and she said that that it is neglect the fact that the child is allowed to roam the estate on her own.

I would never have allowed my 2-3 year old roam anywhere on their own and do find this behavior by the parents strange to say the least.

So do I call social services or the guards? I don't want to come across as a nosy neighbor but I could not forgive myself if something did happen to her and I didn't do anything to stop it...

Thanks for reading..

slarkin123

Are you sure the child is being let out to play or could he be escaping. I have a 2 and a half year old who's better than houdini . How long would the child be out on her own?

PlainP

She is always out on her own, I'd assume if she was escaping she would have no shoes or a coat on but she always looks ready for going outdoors.

Last night we (my partner and I) heard her crying outside at 9.45pm, I looked out and she was outside, her brother and sister were with her but in my opinion this is an unacceptable time for any 2-3 yo to be out. My own children who are 7 and 8 were in bed!!!

Agent_99

I would go with your gut instinct OP, If you feel that something is wrong, do you know which house she lives in if so I the next time you see her out without supervision I would bring her home and return her to the parents if they are allowing this then report them to social services because if anything happened you would not be able to rest easy. To many people tut and say it's terrible when bad thing happen to young kids when they know it has been going on for ages... that's why there has been so many problems with abuse and neglect that never got reported until it was to late.

I would not let my 8 year old out without some form of supervision either by ourselves or his 14 year old brother.

Abi

PlainP wrote: »

She is always out on her own, I'd assume if she was escaping she would have no shoes or a coat on but she always looks ready for going outdoors.

Last night we (my partner and I) heard her crying outside at 9.45pm, I looked out and she was outside, her brother and sister were with her but in my opinion this is an unacceptable time for any 2-3 yo to be out. My own children who are 7 and 8 were in bed!!!

I think a quarter to ten is too late for any of those children to be out, let alone the 2/3 year old. The evenings might be brighter, but its dark at that time, they should have been in their beds.

If you're genuinely concerned for their welfare you could put in a call to child protection, though bear in mind theres a massive list at the moment and high priority cases will come first.

Sleepy

Given the type of people who would allow this, I'd recommend an anonymous call to Social Welfare before any attempt to return the child to the house etc. While it might shame a normal person, a normal person doesn't allow their 3 year old outside to play without adult supervision and would have them in bed at 9:45 at night.

I'd fear retribution for any attempt to intervene, however well meaning it may be.

lynski

similar to a previous thread why not have a word with your PHN?

PlainP

Sleepy wrote: »

Given the type of people who would allow this, I'd recommend an anonymous call to Social Welfare before any attempt to return the child to the house etc. While it might shame a normal person, a normal person doesn't allow their 3 year old outside to play without adult supervision and would have them in bed at 9:45 at night.

I'd fear retribution for any attempt to intervene, however well meaning it may be.

I think this is what i'll do as I would be afraid in case they thought it was me who rang up.

Thanks for all the replies they are appreciated.