Children apparently alone?

[iloveanicecake]

Today I saw 2 young children up on the 1st floor of their flat (above a shop) opening full-sized outward-opening windows.

I was driving past slowly (parade of shops with a roundabout) and was concerned so went back. I hoped the windows had safety catches to prevent them opening too far, but was deeply worried. I parked and went back and rang doorbell, fully aware parents might not appreciate my interference but if there was an accident I'd have not forgiven myself.

Well, the 2 little girls answered the door, alone. I stood talking to them for 5 minutes. They claimed parents were home, upstairs, but they never appeared. The girls were 4 & 6. Lovely friendly girls who even came outside of flat whilst we talked (not my request and I encouraged them back inside). I was asking them where parents were "upstairs", are they sleeping "no, they are talking", if they go to school "yes", if they'd had breakfast "no, we don't usually have breakfast", but said they'd had lunch - it was 5.30pm. I eventually went home, reluctantly, and within 5-10 minutes of leaving girls I called the police (on 101).
Was I BU to be concerned and call police?
The 101 call handler put it through on a high alert for a welfare visit from an officer. I returned a few minutes later to see if girls ok and saw police car outside and interestingly a man sitting in same window as the girls had been in. (Not policeman in uniform, so presumably the dad.)
I hope all is ok. Was I overreacting to call police?

The parents might not speak English. They might have been watching from afar not getting involved in. Can you imagine when the police arrived them trying to explain to the parents that they were there because a child opened a window.

I am still trying to work out after being told that the parents were in why the op rang the police

I am pretty sure I would have asked the girls directly to fetch their parents. If they didn't maybe shout hello up the stairs.

The questioning was a bit strange, not normal chatty conversation. I have two boys aged 4 and 6, they don't go to school(we home ed) and they sometimes ask if they have had breakfast /lunch/dinner yet despite having eaten it not long ago.

Why didn´t you just ask them to go get their parents?

This. What has asking them if they'd had dinner and if they go to school got to do with it? Surely you'd just say "is your mum or dad in? Can you go get them for me please?"
You did the right thing calling the police though - better to be safe than sorry I think if you really did think they could be left alone.

As others have said why not just ask the kids to go and get one of their parents? Sounds to me a little like you were hoping for something 'juicy' with all the questioning.

Police might not have been needed had you done that.

Thank you OP for calling the police.

My brother and I were left alone before and after school and during school holidays while our parents worked full time. This was from about age 6. We were drilled to tell anyone who knocked on the door or rang the phone that our parents couldn't come to the door/phone right now. We were told that if anyone found out, our parents would be taken away and put in prison and it would be our fault. It was terrifying.

Nobody ever found out. My brother and I got into all sorts of trouble, including very memorably accidentally setting fire to the lounge carpet.

I really wish that one of the people who knocked on our door had been paying a bit more attention and had called the police.

I expect both parents belong to that strange group of people who never answer the door unless they are expecting a parcel or know who is coming to see them.

You did the right thing.

GahBuggerit "Sounds to me a little like you were hoping for something 'juicy' with all the questioning."

What an odd and disgusting thing to say.

Thanks to those that don't blame what I did. In the moment I was frightened by what I had seen. By ringing doorbell twice and repeatedly asking about parents coming to door, I thought I had requested their presence sufficiently. Hindsight is 20:20 though, so perhaps a tougher demand might have been required, as many have suggested. Hopefully I won't ever find myself in this position again, but will remember the tough MN stance!

I didn't grill them about anything, but working as a lunchtime supervisor in a local school, conversations about school ie. moving up to the next Year Group after the holidays and did you eat your lunch today, were quite normal subjects to me that I talk about with many children very frequently. As a PP said, I didn't think our chatting was a safeguarding issue. They hadn't disclosed abuse and I had no reason to suspect it. I just initially thought parents were unaware of potential danger/ there might have been a lapse in supervision. I would have wanted to be warned if it was my children in potential danger, but sadly lots of people clearly see it as unwarranted interference.

With regards the windows, they were larger than the children, whose ages I didn't know until they answered the door to me, unsupervised. Driving past, I could see them from head to toe, standing up, pushing out the huge high bay windows. IF the windows opened fully, a tragic accident could easily have occurred. If they were simply opening a small window, my attention wouldn't have been drawn and I'd have driven past without a second glance.

I haven't called police for an update, as I don't imagine I am entitled. However, when driving past today, there was a step ladder visible in the window. If it was there to help fit safety catches, then it seems my concerns were real.

I hope they are all safe and the failure to answer the door was a misunderstanding.

We always say 'don't walk by '

-and you didn't OP

Maybe parents are fine

But you stuck your neck out and I think we all should to be honest

I find it really strange why you didn't insist on them getting their parents from upstairs so that you could alert them, then and there, to the danger of their windows. If their parents did not appear when you insisted then you should have phoned the police and waited until they arrived. Why all the pointless questions to two very small children and then going away to phone the police and leaving them in potential danger?

"but sadly lots of people clearly see it as unwarranted interference." Those would be people who don't care about random kids then. Maybe if one of the girls had fallen out of the window or opened the door to the wrong kind of stranger people may realise what could have happened.

I hope all the people with advice after the fact are as vigilante as you, OP.

I thought you were posting about my son at first as we have a similar setup.

He's a lot younger and bonkers and the cat is no better so I'm always around if the window is open, but I often sit on the floor and can't be seen.

I do realise what happened is different btw.

I think it's ok OP, at worst they'll have incurred some unnecessary costs (the safety latches).

I think you did really well under stressful circumstances you weren't in any way prepared for OP 💐

"unnecessary costs (the safety latches)."

Yeah, I realise how that sounds.

I was thinking more along the lines that the parents find them redundant, rightly or wrongly. Probably wrongly, but I guess with some very tame kids you might not see them as mandatory

NB this certainly does not apply to my kid!

OK everyone, how about next time the OP just ignores the child/ren and goes on her merry way? would that be better?