Four year old twins left home alone

[MrsDoylesTeaTrolley]

For at least an hour. Is there any circumstance that makes this reasonable?

Are these units staffed? Even with support workers, if so tell them. You can ask to be kept out of it and they can be vague about how they know, CCTV staff saw her go etc.
This behaviour is putting her children at risk, I worked in this field a while ago and the breaking seat can be very very difficult, it would also worry me she'd been with the perpetrator

Sorry I read it as it was your mother caring for the children.

Very very weird and concerning. I wouldn't go out the front to speak to a neighbour for 30 seconds with such young kids in the house, no matter leave entirely for an hour.

Report this. You would never forgive yourself if something happened to them

Hell no. Are you on speaking terms with her? Have you mentioned anything to her about what you know?

Was this a risk the woman took when the children had gone to bed? It's still wrong of course.

Is she possibly a sex worker?

Leaving for an hour isn't enough to go out and socialise so I wonder why anyone would be in the the position where they felt it was ok to leave them for an hour?

My thoughts exactly when I reported: “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them.”

Thank you, everyone. I’m just feeling some bizarre sense of guilt for reporting it.

Do you think she went to spend time with her abuser OP? This was sadly quite common when I worked at a women's refuge.

Jesus christ. What is wrong with some women?
what did she say when she came back?

How do you know the children were alone? Did you just sit knowing they were alone until you saw the mam come back? Why didn't you raise it with the staff?

If I knew two 4 year old children were home alone I'd ring the police straightaway!

Remember that poor little girl whose mum left her alone for 6 days whilst she celebrated her 18th birthday, died alone. Please report this

And the case of Deveca Rose, who left her 3 and 4 year olds at home while she went to the shop, and came back to find that a set of fairy lights had caught fire and the kids died in the fire. Who does this??

I had something similar with one of my neighbours a few years ago. Both parents had gone out to work and left x2 DDs (4&6) playing outside on the front garden. They had a picnic blanket and some toys. I remember it being a really hot day. I went shopping and a few hours later they were still outside alone.
A neighbour kept going out giving them ice lollys and drinks. From talking to her she told me that it was a school training day and both parents forgot and wanted to go to work so thought it would be ok.
It didn't sit right with me so I called the local safeguarding team around 2pm, who took a few details but basically told me it wasn't a safeguarding issue. I felt like I had wasted time and made to feel that I shouldn't have called.
They were outside from 8am - 6pm!!

Omg no it's never ok to leave a 4 year old alone.

Is it the apocalypse?

Unless it is, then no, that's not reasonable.

That's dreadful! No wonder people are put off reporting things with a dismissive reaction like that.Hope the kids were OK

No.

I work in a building with several flats for women and children who have fled domestic violence and we have 4, 2 & 3 bedroom houses where there is obviously more freedom/privacy and better living arrangements as our women are not pushed to moved on but to stay until they're fully ready some stay years. The in and out from the flats have to go past our office where there is a 24/7 refuge worker and we can see who comes goes to all the houses in the cul de sac do you not have any staff or the same type of set up. Don't get me wrong there plenty who try to leave their children and sneak people in ect but this would be taken very seriously if no staff call the police. Thank you for staying close and making the decision you made it can be difficult to know what to do

I don't care that she is in a hostel. There are no circumstances that makes this OK.

The second worry is that the mum has compromised everyone's security by being dropped off in a unknown car. The risk is that she's returned to her abuser and he knows where she lives now as well as everyone else. I would mention this to the staff as well.

Maybe if you didn't see or hear her leave then you didn't see or hear a babysitter arriving?

Just have a chat with her before any reporting, ask how she is etc then bring up your concerns.

Is there a support worker? I'd speak to them and let them know.

It's too risky, not OK for the kids. But she's obviously had a tough time and support would be better than judgement.

I'm not sure who you reported to, but if you're in refuge / equivalent then you need to also report to Women's Aid who run the refuge, if it wasn't them. It's probably a breach of the occupancy agreement, but more importantly, her key worker will be able to support and look into what happened. It's never acceptable to leave such young children alone, and given your living situation, she could have asked you or another woman to keep an eye on the children.

I would hope that she got a neighbour to look after them.

If not I’d be very worried about the reason she left and I think reporting her not only protects the kids but also herself too.

Well done OP.