Would you be concerned ?

[ManorHall7]

We have neighbours that are regularly leaving their 8 and 5 year old alone. This week 3 times however 1 time only for about 5 minutes it appears whilst one was coming home from work and one going to work in evening.

Would you be concerned ? And do anything ?

I agree it’s super young to leave them alone, I think I’d report tbh. What if something happened to the parent travelling home from work? Probably couldn’t get out in case of a house fire.

I’ve just started leaving my 11 year old at home for 30 minutes whilst I take my 7 year old to a club across the road. I’d never leave my 11 year old in charge of my 7 year old, far to much responsibility in my opinion.

How much time do you devote to twitching your net curtains?

If they are having to do it because of a clash of working shifts, I'm guessing they are in a situation where they don't feel they have a choice.
I wouldn't normally suggest something like this, but if that is the case I would personally be tempted to offer to watch them for those odd few minutes.
I realise there's a huge risk of them going into CF territory, but it might be worth it to help out neighbours who are struggling.

Well I imagine they have phones and are checking in with each other so they know the other is close to home.
Maybe you could offer to be a first port of call for help in the unlikely event os something happening in those few minutes.

It isn't just me that had noticed it was picked up by another neighbour

What length of time are we talking?

Yes, I would report to social services.

Unfortunately we aren't that friendly with them so makes it very difficult. I wouldn't leave my 11 year old in charge of my 6 year old yet its not worth the risk.

Once about 15 minutes. The others appear short but then we -despite what one poster mentioned -haven't been paying attention so it could have been more frequent and more often 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'd report to social services. To young.

I would say it's a safeguarding concern especially as it's happening regularly. Legally there's no age limit on when you can leave children home alone but they're very young. It makes me think of the house fire last Christmas with the little boys in Sutton who all died and their mum had gone to the shops so came home to tragedy. Wouldn't risk that for anything. Report your worries, it's all you can do if you aren't able to talk to the neighbours.

I honestly cannot fathom reporting someone to social services for this, as suggested by other posters.
If you otherwise believe the children to be well cared for and this is your only concern, why would this be your first choice?

This is what my parents had to do when we were young, it's the only way they could afford to pay the bills and put food on the table, by working opposite shifts.

You have no idea of the set up, they could have cameras monitoring them, they could be on a laptop zoom call with a grandparent, or they could be happily sitting in front of the TV for 5 minutes.

If I had no other concerns and the children look happy/healthy, I'd just mind my own business.

Perhaps you could start to become friendly with them? Sounds like you have kids of a similar age? Can you invite them over for a bbq?

And if any or all of those things are the case then it'll come to nothing.
But you only have to look at the endless number of cases where children have been at risk and it's been missed by neighbours, teachers etc and the first thing everyone says is, "why didn't someone do something?"
I grew up in the 60s/70s and my parents did many things differently to how people would do things now. I'm able to realise it was a different time and we lacked a lot of awareness compared to now.
My sister used to walk me to school over many busy wide roads when we were ages 4 and 7. Would I have let my children do this at those ages? Would I hell. Time's change, maybe you can 'fathom' that if you actually think about it.

Unacceptable to leave children so young alone. Either speak to them or report it.

If I was speaking g to them I would let them know others have noticed and you are concerned that someone might report them.

You can report it if you want. Obviously it can sometimes be classed as neglect and a tragedy could happen,even in 5 minutes.

However , it's very unlikely that SS will actually do anything about it if the children are otherwise loved, cared for ,safe and looked after.

An 8 and 5 year old left alone for 5 minutes, safely locked in their own house, a few times a week? And you want to report this to social services? 😂 😂

Just be honest and admit you have an axe to grind with these particular neighbours.

I said once it was 5 minutes the other times longer. Now how can any child be safely locked inside their own house 🙈🙈🙈. ??

Also I just asked about concerns not social services but no one knows if anything esle is going on or if they are being left longer ? We haven't monitored them just noticed and another neighbour

Why wouldn’t you report it? It may be a small concern, but the fact is that it’s very rare in concerning cases for the child to come up and hand the social worker a case file of compiled evidence. Generally it’s a build up of small complaints. Teacher notices the child never has the right clothing or a full packed lunch. A neighbour notices they’re left alone at home without an adult. Parent of a friend notes down something unusual or worrying that the child has said.

All these things alone are really not a big deal. Together they can make a picture of a family in desperate need of support. It’s not our job to decide what facts are important when we don’t have the full picture. The way I see it, if you say something and it turns out to be nothing you’ve just made a mistake. If you say nothing and it turns out to be something you’ve left a child to suffer.

I left mine at that age for 5 mins to nip to the shop.

If anything happened they would go next door (either side) or use the house phone to call me.

Stop being so hysterical and leave SS to look after children who actually need help

My eight year old GC often doesn't want to move out of the house. I've (and her Mum) have left her up to an hour. Her younger sibling goes stir crazy. She has a phone and is very independent. Tbh her Mum was and still is. Over the summer holidays, she'll be getting left in while we do an hour in the local park. Mention it if you want, it might be temporary. In times gone by the neighbours a local teen would have been paid to babysit.

I wouldn't do that...and if you remember the sad story about the two sets of twins that died in a fire a while ago it's not worth the risk....BuT even if it's reported I don't think they will do much it's not like she's leaving them all day and going getting pissed also how can you be sure no one else is in the house? A neighbour coukd be watching them.

Same. I was always left in the house from a young age while my mum quickly popped to the shops, etc. I had a phone, a set of house keys, and was always told to ring my mum/knock next door if I needed help at all (which I never did).

Leave them alone OP.

@ManorHall7 if you're that concerned, another option is to ring their school(if you know it) and ask to speak with the safeguarding lead. You can tell them what you know/witnessed .