To ring social services on my neighbour?

[EllieRosesMammy]

So basically, I've lived next to my neighbour for 4 years now who has 2 young kids (5 & 4 I believe). She's a nice enough person but every single day she's sat out the front of her house smoking weed and drinking lager, and I don't mean just a can I'm talking about a whole crate and then off to the shop for more. I can count on one hand how many times I've seen her bring a food shop home over the years, yet the daily trips to the shop for lager are constant. The kids are left at home to roam in and out of the house while she goes off on her booze runs too. And if she's gone for a long period of time for anything I'm pretty sure that when she doesn't leave them with some teenagers (not sure who they are) they're actually left completely alone in that house. Her children (and others from the street) are also allowed to roam around on the road outside, which constantly has cars traveling up and down - the other day one of them, who must of been about 3 years old, ran out infront of my mams car and nearly ended up squished! When my mum confronted my neighbour and said "excuse me but one of your little ones just nearly ended up under my car" she replied without a care "oh yeah that's our Charlie, he's got adhd"?!?! Didn't bother to bring him in, or seem remotely fussed he nearly ended up dead. Also her house absolutely stinks of drugs & animal faeces, so bad so that if she has her door open I have to close my windows because the smell bellows in. I've glanced in to her house a few times as I've walked past and I've honestly seen better looking smack dens. Another thing is she will frequently have angry, drugged up men banging at her door during the night. She's had her windows put through 3 times and just the other day there was a man stood at her door, snorting either ketamine or cocaine off the wall, threatening to head butt her.

AIBU to report her to the social? Surely this isn't an acceptable way to be bringing up children, and I'm concerned that one of these days something really bad is going to happen to them.

Also, one call probably won’t make a difference. Call, and keep calling

Any of them in school? Make a call to the school. Disclaimer I’m a teacher and usually say report it yourself but this is severe and needs sorting. A school safeguarding lead should take it seriously.

What a silly question. Do you really think you should stand by and do nothing? Why would you do that? She is not a nice enough enough person, she is clearly not fulfilling her responsibilities to her own children 😟

Yes you will need to be persistent unfortunately. Contact social services asap.
Police every time you think the young children have been left alone.
Do they go to school? You can also contact the school and say you have serious concerns for one of their pupils and give the address. The summer holidays are coming up and that can be a very dangerous time for children like this as they fall off the radar.

Yes, although some social services will do nothing substantial.
You could always anonymously call the nspcc who will refer your report to social services, they are more likely to take note of another agency, the nspcc have their own assessing social workers & they're much more approachable than the average social services who are all tired & burnt out.
At least that way you can ensure you've done everything you can do for these children

Get onto ss but they will also tell you to call 999 if the children are left alone, the children are left in the care of a minor (teen) or they are in her care but she is drunk/under the influence and therefore her ability to care for them is impaired.
I came from a household like that, please do whatever you can!

Like others have said, it may take several attempts to get this family actioned. Ring the community police/ safeguarding team and explain everything. Call social services, but also ring the NSPCC helpline. If the woman is a social housing tenant, ring the landlord as the Housing Officers have safeguarding and welfare responsibilities. There are usually key workers in these organisations that reach out to vulnerable tenants. The 5 year old will be obliged to attend a school soon by law. If you can identify the school uniform, you could phone the school as well.

Like I've already said, I didn't realise how bad it was until recently. And I also don't want to bring any trouble to my own door as even if I report anonymously it'll be obvious who's done it as they're all very much like her round here. Rather not have my own windows put through by one of her chavvy boyfriends until I was 100% sure it was a common occurance.

Yeah, that's not even a grey area. Clearly report that!

I would have reported her a long time ago. Them
Poor kids 🥺🥺🥺

Please report your concerns to social services. And call the police next time the children are left alone.

Is this a joke?

Yes I definitely would.

I would try and make a log of everything.
If you’ve got CCTV then that’s great as you have physical proof.

When she leaves them alone how long is she gone for?
PPs have suggested you call the police which is worth a shot but she may have returned by the time they arrive so I’d definitely ring social services too.

Report to to SS and to the police too.

Gosh, what a neighbourhood, I’d report them but then also think about if I could move so don’t need to be seeing this on a daily basis.

She leaves a four and five year old alone in a house full of alcohol and drugs and with strange, angry men off their face on drugs who turn up randomly... of course you report her!!!!

If you can monitor the cctv remotely e.g. from your phone call the police when you're not present and it's clear you're out then she won't assume it's you if that's your main concern about why you haven't reported her neglect

Phone ss as a matter of urgency. Do not hesitate to call police when children are left unattended.

Ehm yes, I would say you must call them immediately. Poor kids

As someone from Teesside it's not normal within the area its pretty clear those dc are neglected and you need to take action instead of posting on mn about it.

This is a good idea. When you see her go out, leave, don't even glance at her house, get into your car, drive round the corner, call the police and don't go back for a couple of hours. That may stop her and neighbours thinking it was you. Police will go round and deal with it.

Also call the school.

If she already has people smashing her windows in, she is unlikely to think it was you who had reported it. It sounds like there could be a long list of people who would 'vindictively' (in her eyes) have called it in.

What the hell have you been waiting for???? Call everyone you can that sounds awful

Whatever you think you are waiting for the legal right. I agree young kids shouldn't be alone but it's not necessarily illegal. You need to see what the law says before anything

Yep, make sure you are out, and seen to be out before you make any sort of call.

I'd be surprised if SS aren't aware of her anyway but a police report that there are children home alone will help there, and more so than a neighbour report of anything really.