To report this family for leaving their young dc home alone?

[Hmmmmminteresting]

New family moved in opposite. They're a bit strange. 2 dc age approx 8 or 9 and then another age 3 or 4.
Every morning the DM takes the DP to work at around 6.15 am. Shes gone around 20 mins. Leaves the kids at home, no sign of any lights on so I assume they're in bed and she doesn't want to stir them.
What also makes me nervous is that she doesn't lock the front door. She gets home and just pushes handle down and shes straight in.
Do I keep my nose out or report it?
My close friend has begged me to report however shes a social worker in training!

This thread is going to off track with the McCanns being mentioned !

@LiveInAHidingPlace RTFT or at least my posts

The bigger one may be older than you think. My DS could easily pass for 8 and often gets offered balloons and stuff in McDonalds which he rolls his eyes at but he's actually 11 and going into year 7 tomorrow

Please report it.

It is very, very rare that children of that age being left alone are not being neglected or abused in other ways.

Whilst there is no legal age for children to be left alone, children under 10 should not be left in charge of younger children. Should something happen to one of the younger children, it could cause significant mental harm to the older one.

As an emergency, one off, SS wouldn't be interested but as a regular occurrence, it isn't right and the family need to make alternative arrangements.

It is very, very rare that children of that age being left alone are not being neglected or abused in other ways.

Really ? Where is the evidence for this.

I’m not reading all the responses but I’d say report it. You’re saying they’ve not been there that long and had the police turn up twice so far (that you’re aware of) so there’s a good chance they’ll flag up in some way. Or at least I’d like to think so. Whether social work takes any action isn’t really your worry, either way you’ll have a clear conscience in case anything goes wrong.

@Hmmmmminteresting I've reported your comment re the McCanns
You may have started this thread in good faith and out of concern but that comment is fucking appalling. I really don't care if you report these people or not.
Cba

I think you should report it.

It might feed into a bigger picture of what is going on for that family and it's clearly making you feel uneasy. You could ask to remain anonymous

Either nothing will happen or the family will (should) be offered support

My dps auntie jost popped to the shop one night while her ds was asleep and he died in a fire

But she might just as easily have put him in the car whilst she popped to the shop resulting in him dying in a car crash - and, statistically, that's more likely to happen.

Could there be a relative/friend popping in to keep an eye on the kids?

@Aberhonddu why, out of interest? I genuinely dont see the difference. The mccans left their young dc at the same time every night for a week or two.
My post is saying the same kind of scenario yet I'm being called all kinds of things for suggesting it's not right?!?!
Absolutely bizarre

I think you should report OP. Then let them make the decision whether or not the kids are at risk. I wouldn't leave these small kids home alone. You've noticed the pattern. Chance is other people have too and then it may be too late.

@Hmmmmminteresting
Do you seriously not know what happens when you bring Madeline's parents into a conversation on Mumsnet? If you don't, then either you're very new or wilfully ignorant

While it's not ideal, the parents are probably struggling to keep a wage coming in, and you sticking your beak in will make things worse. Much worse. Stay out of it.

OP if you report it and nothing is done, but something happens at least you tried. As you are near if you see or hear anything worrying you can try to help at the time, but with your own DCs you cannot constantly watch over the neighbours DCs. They are not your responsibility and you do not need to babysit.

If you don't report and something happens are you going to say "well I posted it on MN and a few people told me not to, so I didn't"?

I would report briefly and factually and let SS make the call, not MN.

I don’t know op, yeats ago this was fine? i certainly would never do this though!
I don’t think this is ok, im not sure id report though.
Id ignore the one poster though

@Aberhonddu no I dont know what happens . But I also dont spend too much time on here ,(thankfully, judging by a lot of those who clearly do)

Thank you everyone. Really appreciate the feedback on this one.

wtf do you have them under surveillance or something? Weird.

And (like it should even need pointing out) the McCanns left 2 x 18 month olds and a 3 year old for hours every night to get pissed with their mates. Hardly comparable.
(Awaits C a r t e r R u c k inspired deletion)

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility - what that means is if you have a concern about a child's welfare you report it to the appropriate agencies so they can follow it up. It no longer means you turn a blind eye, 'mind your own business its not your problem'; or investigate yourself possibly putting children at risk. Having worked with many children who were left in difficult situations one of the things they often ask is - why didn't anyone do anything, why didn't anyone notice.

If you're uncomfortable with what you are seeing let someone know. You don't have the whole picture and if there are legitimate safeguards in place that will quickly become apparent when followed up.

The reason that there is no specific age about leaving children home alone is so that people cannot base it on an age level but must show how they mitigate risk. You have observed an habitual practice of home alone, who else might be noticing it? If you're comfortable to ignore your gut instinct of concern because of what others might think, you must be comfortable with the outcome which might be nothing or might be harm to children.

Why don't you call ss and see if they will advise without giving specifics on yours/theirs location or identities?
Then you've got some real advice, rather than a bunch of opinions, without actually reporting them.

Out of interest, what is your DH'S opinion?

Dh is all about the quiet life. He's of the opinion we dont want to get on the wrong side of them because they look like they could potentially give us a lot of grief. He sits on the fence with everything but I would definitely not have his backing if I reported it

MN is so weird sometimes. Single parent posts if it's acceptable to nip out to the shop for ten mins while children are asleep and gets her arse handed to her on a plate and you post this and are getting your arse handed to you about a couple doing this daily!

@expatinspain I know! I thought the same 🤷‍♀️