To be shocked at this non-attendance by the police?

I can only talk from a policing point of view, but the above is exactly how it will have gone. We have a finite number of resources (cops) and once they are engaged (with an arrest, a hospital watch for a suicidal person, off to an immediate incident etc), there are no more to go to something that isn't an immediate threat to life/crime ongoing (such as a robbery or housebreaking where suspects are still within). It is frustrating (for everyone, including the cops!) and I often wish I could knit officers or magic them out of nowhere. We have to risk assess every incident and grade it appropriately giving our full rationale. In my force, child concern incidents are an absolute priority (as of course they should be) but I guess there was no-one free to attend at that time. We (in the control room) have to phone many many people as frustrated as you every shift and explain why we can't come along straight away and I do understand how people feel - if I phoned the police, I'd want them to act too! I

Thank you for reporting and please do report your frustrations to your MP and Chief Constable but due to funding, I can't see anything changing soon

I think many posters, on this and other threads like this, dont understand that SS have no powers of their own, they too would need to call the police, who often dont come out

So OP might have called SSD there and then on the pavement, they in turn would have called police who would have said they marked it as urgent and urgent means they might get round there in a few days or so

In the meantime, trying to logistically marry up the Social Workers diary to when a police officer may or may not visit, may or may not be free is very difficult. Often SWs are sitting about for hours waiting to be supported by the police to gain access to the house/children

Public services need proper funding and resources, otherwise this is the outcome.

I wish there were more people like you around. You say you work with vulnerable children - you're very much the right person in the right job. Fingers crossed that little boy gets the support he needs.

Would you consider calling the school? They might follow it up.

Ah OP, you did your best. Things like this scare the shit out of me. That poor, poor child. Thank you for caring.

Do you normally miss the point this much?

I was trying to figure out why the child would need an ambulance?

And a call to police to report a drunk adult would strike me as less of a priority than a child with no adequate carer and no way of knowing how to get to safety.

Your focus here is on the man. It should have been the child.

1. I'd have started by focusing on what the child can tell me - where do you live? Is there another adult at home? What's their name? Are there other children at home?

2. Then trying to get the child (not the adult) to safety. Phone home. Leave and go to the home to fetch someone. Take them together.

3. Finally, if getting the child to safety couldn't happen, the phone call to police is regarding the child being at immediate risk of harm. Likewise call to children's services, but with more info this time.

@JMSA I'm sure you've made a world of difference to that kid. I'd be tempted to knock on today or over the weekend and see how the dad is. If you're confident enough, you'll then be able to see how the kid is.

Report them anonymously to adult social services and child if you can. The poor mother either has no idea this is happening or is terrified but has to allow contact. It's heartbreaking but I'm glad there's people like you out there. You've done the right thing and more than many but I'd be chasing police and social services for the kid

Yes I had this phrase barked at me repeatedly with no explanation when I was trying to get a welfare check for an alcoholic. She said I needed to call the ambulance rather than her after a long wait time. I asked how and she said 999. It absolutely wasn't a 999 thing and it wasn't for the ambulance. After the third time and me saying "I'm not sure why you keep saying that", she explained it was a new policy.

I seem to find myself in these situations on nights out where someone falls over and breaks their nose or wees themselves in a quiet pub unaware of where they are and no one cares so I end up walking them to hospital or home and trying to get follow up care is an absolute joke. One of the three people I've tried to help is dead now and I think it's because all agencies tried to pass her off to the other.

I think that is good advice.
At least they will know what is happening on the ground and can't say they weren't aware.

Emergencies that consist of being people being at risk of serious and immediate harm. It will have been downgraded because the op was present and the child was s&w with the op present. Sad but true. The services are on their knees

i believe there is a chronic shortage of foster parents as well

I understand the frustration of the police but there are no other services! That's the problem. Going back to OP I know SS are stretched, but it does seem to me that children growing up with drug and alcohol addiction just isn't a concern for SS unless the mother is using hard drugs in pregnancy. There are plenty of parents round here with these issues with multiple children living with them. I know their lives are awful. And it's not like they're brilliant parents minus the addiction problems either.

How can they despatch someone if they’re all otherwise engaged?

OP thank goodness you were there but how awful for that child.

Unfortunately this is not a new thing, the passing of vulnerable and chaotic people, a danger to themselves and others, from one agency to another even during obvious crises.

In my 20s walking home late one night my then BF and I came across an elderly man, yes, drunk, and bleeding from a fall outside a local eye hospital. While BF stayed with him I knocked on their door, only to be told it wasn't their problem and to call the police. It was pre mobile phone days so I had to locate a phone box and then it took several hours for an ambulance to come out. The overall attitude from all involved was irritation.

I'm now in my 50s. A few years ago while I had my shop in a "problematic " area where I did a fair amount of unofficial social work in essence, trying to help people I had one incident that still makes me shudder. It wasn't even one of the usual suspects, but a fairly "respectable" but blind drunk and distressed man who came in and offloaded his woes and then became increasingly agitated. By a strange series of events my MIL was there with me - she was in the early stages of dementia - not care home ready, living with us because she couldn't be left alone, and this was very disturbing to her. The police station was literally a street away so I called for help as he was a big chap and he would not leave. I had tried every bit of drunk whispering I could so it was the last resort. It took over an hour for a PCSO to arrive by which time drunk man had passed out on the floor. The PSCO basically huffed, puffed and toe punted him awake giving the impression it was all a waste of his time and that I should have been able to deal with it. If I hadn't had a vulnerable old woman in the shop I would have been a bit less restrained but I was worried about him kicking off. I was left feeling I had wasted police time.

But I can't bear the idea that children I these situations aren't prioritised and can only thank God you were able to mitigate things and hopefully start a bit of a ball rolling to get some intervention for the poor kid I the future. Hopefully.

Report it to the head of that police force & your MP, appalling response. That poor child.

you did what you could op

I don’t think they are set up to deal with vulnerable children, or maybe they just don’t care.
I used to work occasionally as an Appropriate Adult, attending minors in police stations when their parents couldn’t/wouldn’t, and saw police send 12 & 13 year olds home with parents in drugged/alcoholic hazes- they couldn’t send minors home alone at night so kept them until the parents finally showed up. I was horrified. I think they thought that if they called SS it would take too long for anyone to show up to collect the children and they didn’t want the aggro of arguing with drunk adults, so they just sent the kids home with them as the easiest option.
These poor kids are being failed by their parents and by society.