To think police have just ignored potential child abuse? - advice needed

[AdviceNeededArgh]

Friend overheard something that sounded awful tonight whilst walking down the street. Noises from inside a house, window open. (Being purposely vague.)

Friend actually intervened by yelling out and said she was going to call the police.

Police arrived promptly, checked with friend what happened, then went to investigate.

They called a bit later to say that they'd talked to the adult and the children in the house, who'd given a reason as to why a child had been crying.

However, my friend heard a lot more than just a child crying! AIBU to think the police have been really stupid to accept an excuse that doesn't even make sense, from a household primed that police were on their way? Please tell me this isn't routine!

And, what the hell do we do about it? Contact them again? Contact Social Services?

What do you think they realistically could do though - usually the police will ask to talk to the adults and children separately and ask what happened. They also pass calls like this onto children's services so they can talk to parents and do some checks. Your friend can report to children's services directly or through the nspcc if she's still worried.

Its hard to know with no details but I would contact both.

What do you want them to do? That might be your starting point. They went to the house, there’s nothing been enough evidence of anything wrong to take action that night, they will automatically send a report to social services. I’m not sure what else they could reasonably do.

How sure can your friend be that she heard abuse? Is it absolutely beyond doubt, or just what she thought she heard without actually being able to see to confirm?

If she’s confident she heard abuse she could try social services. It can’t hurt to try.

I would contact social services and nspcc. They know more about what to do.

I see his as the equivalent of contacting the GP about colic. A health visitor is trained to deal with exactly this issue while the GP has numerous complaints and can't be an expert in them all.

So sorry your friend experienced this it sounds distressing.

Contact the police again, be explicit about what was heard. They have to report to social services in these cases and they can investigate.

Local Authorities will have a children's safeguarding phone number to call, or your friend could call the NSPCC. Then your friend can tell them exactly what she heard that makes her think it was abuse.

There’s absolutely no point in contacting social services at this time of night - they are there literally to deal with crisis, the police attended and didn’t see anything that merited intervention there and then. If you/your friend have concerns contact social services in the morning.

the police probably only mentioned a bit of whats happened....your friend won't be told the ins and outs

Police should have a protocol for this sort of situation, and I would assume that they set this in motion. SSD will be informed if they follow the rules.

I worked in a care role and know that the critical thing is that every incident needs to be reported to SSD, even those that sound innocent. What happens is that if everyone does it you have not individual incidents, but a picture emerging.

@Mischance

Police should have a protocol for this sort of situation, and I would assume that they set this in motion. SSD will be informed if they follow the rules.

I worked in a care role and know that the critical thing is that every incident needs to be reported to SSD, even those that sound innocent. What happens is that if everyone does it you have not individual incidents, but a picture emerging.

I would agree. Hopefully the police being called to the address has at least created a paper trail/ flagged up this child and their address so if future incidents occur they can start to put the puzzle pieces together.

Contact and lodge a report with anybody who will take it, NSPCC, social services etc.
From my own dealings with the police, I wouldn't trust that they have thoroughly investigated the matter vs just taking the word of the adult. It's well known that children are reluctant to report abuse when they are in the position of having to live with their abuser.

I can well believe this

As a child I would scream ‘help child abuse’ the actual words and nobody helped
As a teenager I disclosed abuse and was told by professionals that my mother was ‘doing her best’ and was labelled as problematic/attention seeking etc. My dm was wealthy I think they didn’t want to rock the boat so it all got minimised and they turned a blind eye

Sounds a totally normal police response. I’d suggest contacting SS in the morning however unless the family are on the radar I doubt much will be done. I’ve witnessed extreme DV with some neighbours, 2 children present, several threats made to kill the toddler (set fire to the car they were in). Obviously have contacted police and SS many times . Children have thankfully never been physically hurt though and guess what they are still there living with a complete psycho for a father 2 years on despite SS involvement.

I mean I dont know what she heard. What I do know is that my three year old screams literally like she’s being murdered whenever she’s getting her hair washed. I’m often genuinely concerned that someone will hear her and try to intervene or call the police when quite genuinely there is nothing untoward going on at all.

I mean presumably she heard more than just a child screaming. Did she tell the police exactly what she heard? All the details?

There is no need to be vague. No one can offer a sensible opinion unless you tell us what was overheard.

@Uhhuhoyaye

There is no need to be vague. No one can offer a sensible opinion unless you tell us what was overheard.

I thought I'd need to be vague in case it was an actual crime...

MamaTookMyEyebrows

Yes, friend heard more than just a child crying.
She outlined things to the police but not in detail. (We thought they'd be back to take a full statement.) Enough that the explanation they were given didn't account for what she'd heard though.

Will the police automatically contact Social Services or would it be a good idea to contact them tomorrow?

I mean, she called the police, the only other thing she could do is call ss in the morning or nspcc. Sadly no ones ever going to tell her the outcome.

Get your friend to contact SS, the family may already been on their radar. If not, they soon will be.

Your friend isn’t entitled to know the details of the conversation has inside the house. The police will have to make a referral to SS because of the nature of the call so they will be made aware.

Heard more than crying like an adult shouting or something else?

She should contact social services if she’s still worried, tbh.

@Yesmate

Your friend isn’t entitled to know the details of the conversation has inside the house. The police will have to make a referral to SS because of the nature of the call so they will be made aware.

There's a difference between not knowing the details and being told details that don't make sense though. They could have said something vague about dealing with the situation. Instead they seemed to give details of how they'd been fobbed off.

What was heard was an adult shouting, heavy sounding things crashing/as if thrown, and hitting sound which apparently corresponded to the way the child was crying and alternately whimpering, as if it was them being hit.

That's so sad. Don't be too sure social services will waltz in and make it all better though. Probably send him on a parenting course and give some tips to keep calm.