Visited parent and house smelt of weed- should I report?

Yes, report it. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. It could be nothing, but it could also build part of a picture they have.

I'd be inclined to whistle-blow against the agency too, sending you alone without Safeguarding training? Were risk assessments done and safety protocols discussed?

100% this.

I once had a young lass of 18 do her first ever shift with me working in a nursing home who had no training or experience and she had no idea (thanks to social care adverts!) That caring for the elderly would require personal care and not just seeing but also touching naked men. Due to her religion she wasn't able to do this, she'd presumed she'd just be sitting around, holding their hands and discussing the war, maybe playing a card game.
I taught her instead how to make the beds up and empty commodes etc but she was sick doing that, then she vomited in the smokers lounge when I asked her to collect the ashtrays for a clean and soak, bless this useless wee thing she was. The residents (over 70 bed home with 63 beds taken up with dementia residents) terrified her and the usual carer I worked with (we only had 3 staff to all 70 clients) had called in sick due to norovirus. It was chaos.

But care jobs, no matter how complex the needs of the individuals are play utter shite for the carers go in and support them, most agencies can't get staff because you're treated like scum by the regular staff.
Care companies are vile, opportunistic places ran by money grabbing abusers and people who work with them, such as the OP who want to do the right thing are thrown in without any training, you don't need qualifications, gcses etc to do care work because who realistically wants to do that job? Back breaking, shit pay, demeaning and demanding.

I loved it but I chose that as my job, I'm one of the very few people I met who truly enjoyed it but I love elderly people generally, I find them really interesting.

The op didn't deserve that pile on, it's the fault of her managers not training their staff.

My downstairs and upstairs neighbours both smoke inside their flats so our flat often smells like weed which is something you might want to consider!

A professional person wouldn’t come in here asking this 🧐

The thing is, OP, you seem to have very little awareness when it comes to your job. Even if you did report this, you do know that there is a huge number of children living with families who smoke weed? Nothing will come of it. You seem to be a bit 'should I tell on them' primary school mentality when actually you should be raising it for awareness of the overall intervention the family receives, but smoking weed in itself will not lead to any significant action.

What's the safeguarding policy of your company or role? I work with children not in a caring profession and would have a duty to report this to my direct line manager and then my responsibility is fulfilled. If I don't do it I'm in breach of their policy. You must have something similar.

And while I don't want to jump all over the OP. I would advise that you get the hell out of there quickly. An agency happy to send you I to a role with no training is not going to be protecting you. Sooner or later they are going to leave you in a situation that can have dire consequences for you and/or the individual you are caring for.

You work for an agency thay has sent you in to see SU without safeguarding training. Have you worked in this environment before? Please tell me the recruitment process you went through was thorough?

I would be shopping the agency to CQC.

"Smell of weed" doesn't sound like it will go anywhere, but yes you should speak to the social worker if you are concerned.

The much greater worry is your employer though - you need to whistleblow urgently.

Everybody piling on OP —— it is absolutely rife in caring jobs for agencies to be il equipped, understaffed and underfunded.
from disability support services to aged care there are thousands of staff that are not given the tools, training and resources to do the job.

at least this OP is asking the question.
I remember starting a home support role years ago and being told the child I was working with needed to be administered an injection if they had an epileptic fit. I told the handover worker I wasn’t going to do that as I had been in the job for three days, that house for five minutes and had received no medical training. The staff member said well I’ve been here for a double shift, if he fits and you don’t do it, he will die and left.

I couldn’t contact the external supervisor for hours and they said they would send someone and never did. I was there for 12 hours and luckily he didn’t fit. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if he had. I left that job and struggled to feed my own child as a result.

cut her some bloody slack, at least she’s trying to find the answers.

You may be new at this agency @smellysaurusmum but if you are treating a child with severe medical needs then you have had a fuckton of safeguarding training previously.

So asking on a random parenting site how to put that safeguarding in place, is concerning.

You ask your line manager for protocol.

I'd note it in write up. Inform line manager.

I would be concerned, if you can smell it on everything the children are likely second hand smoking it. Also if it is in the house id be concerned of the children locating and ingesting it.

If I read a post from my 'caring professional' about me on MN I would report them.

The family already have a social worker so tell that person. It's nothing to do with judgement you report the facts that were written from your account of the visit - attend for visit to complete x. Strong/notable smell of cannabis in home or wherever it was.

They're likely already aware so your information won't be a surprise.

As a side issue is there a reason you didn't mention the smell to the family? Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. I've lost count of the amount of times I've received information from professionals reporting worries and who haven't thought or wanted to ask about it so when the information has got to me either there is then no evidence of it or a family have been left in a difficult situation longer than needed while somebody made their mind up whether to share it. Multi agency working and information sharing across professionals is mentioned in every serious case review.

You've identified a potential worry. You now need to act on it and share it appropriately.

Yes I would. Then it is the decision of more senior people. Cover your back.

If you are a professional working with children you should know you have a safeguarding responsibility to report this.
You refer to children's services. If you don't know how to do this ask your manager to support with this.
Then access further safeguarding training.

You shouldn't have been in the house without safeguarding training.

Gosh @smellysaurusmum you're having a tough time here.
It's been about 10 years since my days doing a similar role and like yourself many of the staff were flung in the deep end without training.
I know of a few families in my dcs schools who have support staff go in and they're cannabis smokers so your post isn't particularly identifying. I recently delivered some of my dcs clothes to a mum locally also and the smell of weed was pretty strong.
It's sadly really common, people in shitty situations self medicating with weed and then their situations become far worse, horrid cycle.

You report this direct to your line manager, you'd be unlikely expected to personally contact a social worker.
Now I know several social workers both professionally and personally and due to the lack of resources they'd not be looking to do much with the drug use singularly, but combined with a house that's looking a bit chaotic, that might make them react more.

I think we vastly underestimate how many people actually do use weed daily. We're always told it isn't an addictive substance but when you meet habitual smokers who would rather they had enough weed to see them through the weekend as opposed to knowing their kids have enough food in the fridge, I'm personally inclined to disagree.

Agencies are always desperate for staff so I'd be looking for a job with a place that offers a decent training course prior to sending you out on the job.
Or even a company/charity type place that has their own bank staff and offer their organisations in house training.

Not knowing what to do, especially working with children and families leaves not just them but you quite vulnerable.

There are also websites you can do free online training on that you could add to your CV, things such as adversity in childhood etc, so you can market yourself with a bit more understanding of struggling families, might make you feel a bit more confident when applying for other roles elsewhere.
But for your own sake, please don't stay with a company that's not trained you in safeguarding prior to sending you out to vulnerable people.

Good luck and just as a side note, always think, rather safe than sorry when it comes to reporting. Sure, it doesn't make you popular always but ultimately safeguarding is the Job of every responsible adult, not just professionals and I'd something is concerning you/worrying you, tell your manager and do it via email so you can always prove you've done your bit.

Again, best of luck x

@smellysaurusmum it's really really wrong of your employer to send you out into the community alone without being fully trained and provided with clear guidelines about what to do in various situations, and who to speak with if you have a concern not covered by training and / or procedures.

Without this, you are way more at risk of getting into a pickle than whoever in that home is involved with weed.

Please focus on why they put you in this position without training as the biggest priority of all. I'd seriously suggest you reconsider working for a company that willingly puts you in this position.

You need confidentiality training too.

These concerns should most likely be raised with the local authority’s safeguarding team, they will access and investigate as appropriate. But the bigger issue is that you’ve been sent straight out into home visits without the necessary, essential, training. You need to raise this as an issue (in writing) asap, for both your own protection and your clients.

You must have contact details for somebody else who is senior to you in the organisation? Or you could raise this directly with the agency.

This.

You should know how to report safeguarding concerns without needing to ask randoms on the internet.

Am I within my rights to report the family for drugs being on the premises

When you say “the smell of weed hit me between the eyes and stayed there until I left”, do you mean it smelled like someone had just been smoking it or it smelled like someone habitually smokes it in the house? I don’t think you can say drugs were “on the premises” based on smell alone. It could have been a visitor smoking it or you could be mistaken and it’s just something that smells similar (if you are very familiar with the smell of weed, you’re probably not mistaken but I have come across things that could be confused with it once or twice. You can’t be 100% sure). Basically, I think you should report it but be careful with your wording.

Forget it