No parents living at home?

[MeridianB]

This is more of a WWYD....

A nearby house doesn't seem to have any parents/adults living there, but there are at least four children/teens. It's very hard to tell if the teens are 18/19 or 16/17. Their younger brother is around 13.

There is a lot of regular low-level antisocial behaviour - TV and music very loud, spitting, cigarettes thrown out of windows, lots of coming and going late/middle of the night and shouting.

This has escalated over the summer and last night there was a huge drama where the younger boy was locked out by his sisters and he was screaming at them from the pavement and throwing bottles at the windows. We had to go out and check whether there was anyone at home/get them to let him in.

No sign of any parents although a car with an adult visits around once a week for about half an hour.

It's privately rented.

Just wondering how to approach the noise etc issues but also whether we should raise the issue of a bunch of under (potentially) under-18s living alone together?

I don't know who you could really go to about this, it doesn't sound good for anyone involved though.

Call 111 it is likely they'll be aware of the family.

D'oh 101 I mean!

I'd ring social services, about tge 13 yo being locked out and your other concerns. They probably already are involved with tge family and with your information investigate/supervise further, if they aren't aware of tge family you have now highlighted it.

Not sure why my phone prefers tge to the though!

That does sound strange. Have you noticed the 13yr old going to school?

When I was growing up there was a family in our road where the parents split up and both moved out leaving the children behind in the house very much as you describe. It ended very, very badly and sadly.

Please discuss with SS and the police and keep a log of all incidents. I suspect the weekly visits could be SS but they will only see that snapshot of time each week.

I'd call the council. They can put you through to social services and environmental health.

Update: I just called SS and they were really unhelpful. The advice was to call the NSPCC who would then pass on my report to SS. When I questioned why I needed to do that when I could give them the same details now, they didn't really know.

I was put through to a social worker who told me 'it's procedure' and advised me to ring 999. I told him I didn't think this was an emergency but he insisted it is.

I see the younger boy going to school and I see the older ones going out with rucksacks but it's very hard to tell whether they are going to school/college or work.

I think 101 is next step.

Totally agree 101. How awful. Unless the parent(s) are bedridden who would do this?

I get the impression that it's a large family and is split over two houses. The man who turns up (and who has been very rude to neighbours) sometimes brings a toddler.

If one of the older ones is 18+ then maybe they think that's OK. But she was the one locking her brother out at 9pm last night and ignoring his screams and banging, so even if she is an 'adult' she is not behaving responsibly.

I am a little worried that there will be retaliation from them if the police get involved (and they think/know it's us) but I realise there are more important issues here.

""This has escalated over the summer and last night there was a huge drama where the younger boy was locked out by his sisters and he was screaming at them from the pavement and throwing bottles at the windows. ""

That's when you should have called 999.

Can you identify the School Uniform and just share your concerns with the school, it might put 2&2 together for them.

If one of them is over 18 and the lad is 14, it would be allowed for him to reside there, as a former CP SW, I've been involved with this. Usually Family Support and School are monitoring things.

If people aren't reporting, everything seems fine, though.

X post, all you can do is report any anti social behaviour and possibly report to school, without giving your details.

Tbh, I've had arguments with my teen at that time, she's now training to be a Nurse, she subjected my neighbours to a level of anti-social behaviour.

If they are causing you problems then phone the police. The police can then assess the situation and deal with the younger child as appropriate and refer to the social services as appropriate. Is there any way that the house could be a half way house for children leaving care (or something)?

They all seem to be - and certainly look - related. I would hope that children leaving care would live with an adult.