People leaving their kids unsupervised in a pool.

[FlipperinaFlap]

I'm beside myself with worry over this, but I am also Australian and have a slightly different level of water safety expectations so please UK be kind to me when I ask this; I also lost a sibling to drowning when younger.

These people have four children under 10, with the youngest being 2 - including two very boisterous boys (not the youngest). They have brought a stand alone pool and had it put around the side of the house; there are NO WINDOWS OR DOORS looking onto the pool.

Neither parent is going to win parent of the year but dad is an absolute deadbeat and heavily into drugs. Mum is often not at home, leaving dad with the kids, and the damn pool. Dad often leaves them to go and meet his scummy friends and will leave them for max 15 minutes at a time. If he is home he is rarely outside with them in the garden.

I will never find this acceptable, it just is not going to sit with me ever, however, the AIBU bit is should I be raising this with them, with someone else, with a safeguarding organisation? I do get that water safety education in the UK is not as great as it should be and it hasn't been hammered in to people here like it is back home which is why I am wondering about having a chat with them, but what happens then if the situation doesn't improve and I decide to let an organisation know?

I would report this to social services. A 2-year-old unsupervised around water is a recipe for disaster.

I grew up in the 1970s with water safety rammed into me. I refused to even view a house with a pool when we moved recently as I would end up with an older teen and a pool. The thought of drunk teens and a pool filled me with horror.

Talking to them sounds like it won't get anywhere and I dont know how much social services will care/or have the resources to care. If it is housing association or council house I have known them make people remove above ground pools from their gardens so that could be an avenue to explore if it is.

Def report this. I think the dangers are well documented enough in the uk.

I do get that water safety education in the UK is not as great as it should be and it hasn't been hammered in to people here

Trust me, it's been hammered into everyone in the UK too (we're a small island surrounded by water) but we still have a % of Darwin Award candidates who ignore any guidance (or indeed laws) when it suits them. Unfortunately no-one has yet discovered a medical procedure for hammering in common sense or decency.

I would also report. Sounds like there's more dangers than just the water for those children. Water safety is taught in schools and clubs such as swimming lessons/scouts in my experience. I don't think water safety is an alien concept in the UK. It sounds like the parents don't particularly care much. Myself and dh educate and question our children on what would they do if they were in the sea/pool and this happened or that happened.

He's leaving his kids home alone while he goes out? They're unsupervised around water? Please report to social services.

Social services, definitely. You could save a life by reporting, OP!

I would report it.I live on a small island in the Med where there is literally water (be it swimming pool,paddling pool or the sea!) everywhere to attempt to combat 6months+ plus of 30 degree heat. Teaching kids to swim is a major thing here...but there are often incidents of young kids drowning in hotels where people assume lifeguards are watching.

I recently took my kids aged 7 and 11 (both strong swimmers ) away for 4 days, just us 3.Massive pool. Can honestly say I did not leave them alone for a second just on the slightest off chance.

I wouldn't even swim alone as a 35 year old!

Won't lie though...I had much, much more freedom as a child myself.

The children are being neglected and their right to live in a safe environment is not being met.

This is absolutely a safeguarding issue and you need to contact your local social services child protection team asap.

Most local authorities have a website where you can log a safeguarding concern online.

You are not over reacting at all and water safety is as much a concern here in the UK as in Australia.

Just to add - personally I wouldn't speak to the parents about it.

The risks here are self evident - the father clearly just doesn't care (or probably prioritises his drug habit).

So any chat is going to be unproductive and you'll have to report anyway - only now they will know it's you who has reported them.

So take the direct route to SS - as a pp has said the pool issue aside, the situation is not acceptable.

Dad’s on drugs
Parents leave children under 10 including a 2 ye old alone to go and buy drugs
Unsupervised children with a swimming pool

Can’t really understand why you wouldn’t have called social services already?
There’s a significant risk than one or more of these children will die.

YANBU - it's definitely not acceptable for anyone to be leaving a two-year-old playing in water with no adults supervising. This man is clearly a feckless twat.

I would call the police when they are left home alone and say about the pool. They have powers a social worker doesn't which includes entering the property if the kids are on their own and removing them temporarily from parents care giving a social worker time to go to court for a longer order or make agreements with parents.

Sorry I don’t know who to report to but if this was my neighbour I’d (semi)seriously consider taking a knife to it in the night. Even if the dad was at home, drowning is silent

Thank you - I’ve made a report via the police.

The thing is recreational drug use is common in many families - it’s that and the lack of supervision in water that is worrying me and also concern that if anything did happen when he was there he would not be able to handle it.