Pub called the police because of a woman drunk in charge of a baby

[Comety]

A pub with a large beer garden that is particularly popular locally when the sun is shining.

I didn't get there until about 5pm yesterday and clearly plenty of people had been there most of the day, but all good natured and nothing outrageous going on.

A few hours later, a group with a baby got up to leave and were clearly staggering. Three women and a man, I don't know any of their relationships or if the man is the baby's father.

Anyway the staff decided they couldn't leave with the baby in this condition and called the police who arrived promptly.

The police were still there and discussions on going when we left.

What do you think will have happened? It's been on my mind, obviously it's not OK but I don't think Social Care would remove a baby in such circumstances, so presumably the child will have eventually gone home with mum? Or not?

If the adults were all blind staggering drunk then the police might have had to take the baby off them and potentially charge the parents with being drunk in charge of a child. The police could call social services and either the baby could be cared for by a relative or if necessary by an emergency foster carer until the parents were sober.

The pub did the right thing.

Well done to the pub staff. Police can place a child under police protection for up to 72 hours. They basically alert social care who then find a suitable placement while they contact the family and begin a process of assessment / section 47 enquiry.

From The Independent:
Being drunk while in charge of a child under the age of seven is illegal according to the 1902 licencing act. The law states that a fine or up to a month's imprisonment would result if “any person is found drunk in any highway or other public place, or on any incensed premises, while having the charge of a child.

Good on the pub staff for keeping that baby safe. Yes, SS will be involved. Hopefully the parent/s learn a lesson.

They did the right thing and I wish this happened more often. People are too scared of offending.

Nice to see the pub acting responsibly in calling the police. However, they did sell excess alcohol which caused the drunkenness.
If I remember correctly it is an offence to be drunk whilst in charge of a child under 7. So the police should deal accordingly.

I.guess the police will.make an assessment on how drunk.the parents were ,and were they able to.care for the baby
There must of been some concerns ,I doubt bar staff have the time or energy to.monitor how drunk their customers are and wether they can care for a baby ,generally speaking.

Good on the pub, good news someone was looking out for the baby as the adults weren't. No they wouldn't have a child removed but I suspect the police would have figured out how to keep the baby safe in the short term and possibly added something to their file. Maybe they'll think twice next time, I used to take DS sometimes to meet my friends in the pub garden but I'd either not drink at all (plenty of nice mocktails, soft drinks and juices) or just have one and then the rest non alcoholic.

Bar staff tend to care, because it's a licensing issue. No licence, no job.

But in a big busy beer garden in summer, with a group rotating at the bar, it can be more difficult to catch. Well done them for spotting it in time and taking action.

Does anyone remember the reality tv programme about social work - might have been in Scotland. A women with about four kids (single mum) was absolutely raging drunk and opening her next bottle of wine. She had actually called SS to take her kids for the night as she could not cope with them. SS could not find a space for the kids so she was left in charge on them, drinking her next bottle of wine.

I actually felt quite sorry for the Mum. You don't know what her real motivation was, but it seemed like an absolute desperate cry for help from someone without any support and utterly at the end of her tether.

Its no uncommon for people to be prosecuted for this Reading Magistrates' Court: Newbury two deny being drunk in charge of child (newburytoday.co.uk)

The pub did the right thing - it seems as though they'd been keeping an eye on her for a while.

The bar staff should have stopped serving them too. They could lose their licence.

I'm a social worker in safeguarding children. Only the court can order the seperation of a child from their parent/s. But as another person said police can take protection of a child if they feel they are in immediate danger, this would last 72 hours, and they would need to get to court in that time for a judge to decide what happens next.
In my experience the most likely outcome of this scenario above, which is fairly common, is that upon being told the child cannot go home with them and they need to find another suitable option to avoid foster care for the night, parents will usually give the contact details of a grandparent/wider family member. Police and an out of hours duty social worker will take the baby to them, asses they are suitable and ask them to agree to a safety plan whereby the child does not return to the parent that night. Child would likely return the parents the next day unless other concerns were raised. Social Services would open an assessment which would involve many visits over a few weeks to the child and parents at home, and gathering info from GP/nursery/etc to decide if ongoing support is needed or if it was a one off mistake.

Must have been really noticeable if the staff stepped in. It's quite tricky to keep an eye on people in busy beer gardens.

Hopefully there was another reason the parents were unsteady on their feet

I've dealt with similar cases. Baby taken into police protection (went to stay with family memebr rather than foster care) while parents were too drunk to care for him and then returned when they had sobered. Children's services did an investigation/assessment.

It never occurred to me to get drunk with a baby next to me. What a reckless thing to do.

It's interesting because I work with older children and teens and the level of neglect/harm required to get social care to open a case is shocking.

We see some really upsetting cases that aren't "bad" enough. Good to hear that it's better where a baby is concerned.

This reminds me of a BBQ I was at a few years ago at a friend's house. What would people have done here?

We'd all had a bit to drink-but one woman in particular was staggering, falling over, eyes 'like pissholes in the snow' as my Grandmother used to say, and she had her then 5-year-old son with her.

She left in a taxi, earlier than anyone else due to being so drunk, and I was shocked-I mean, I like to get tipsy myself and probably do so far too often! But not while in charge of children. I didn't know what to do, I almost offered to go home with her in order to help her with her child, although I didn't in the end. I was worried she'd be insulted and/or feel I was being critical or judgmental.

If I was that taxi driver, I'd have been tempted to report it. All was fine in the end obviously-I mean even outside of safeguarding itself, how can you help a child undress, put them to bed, talk to them-when you're THAT intoxicated?!

Perhaps the people had been particularly obnoxious drunken customers

Probably more to it than just an observation by bar staff

Police have a different thread holds and remit. If they think a child is at risk they can take police protection. If a parent was too drunk to provide safe care, and a suitable other career wasn’t looking after the baby, they would need to do police protection on the baby and the baby could be looked after by the local authority. Obviously that is just temporary and social care would then assess and take appropriate action, but their remit and threshold is different.

I should think the first step though would be for the police to identify another family member who would be safe to keep the baby and then refer the situation to social care for them to assess.

Also I guess risk to baby from a drunk parent is very different to teen. A teen could put themselves to bed, get water, and keep themselves reflectively safe. A baby couldn’t. I’m not saying the teen wouldn’t be at risk, just that it would be a less immediate, life threatening risk and so the police might not respond in the same way.

This

Well done that pub. I have refused to hand a child to a Mother that was drunk, she had driven to Pre school to collect him, no way was i letting him go with her. Her Husband was called as were the RAF Police. Here Husband was horrified and embarrassed. She was banned from driving on camp and was very sheepish the next time she brought the little one to Pre school.

Why are we praising the pub?
Why did the pub continue to serve people responsible for a child alcohol?
I thought there was a 2 drink limit.

I am not condoning the parents drinking in charge of a child but the pub was quick enough to take their cash.