Should i be concerned about the boy next door

[Jacksmom4eva]

HI just looking for some advice please. There is a little boy living next door in a flat with his parents but hes never been seen! We hear him playing in frontroom and all over xmas hes been laughing and playing games from the sound of it but we share a back gate and in 3 months i've lived here no-one has seen him, they keep curtains closed and go to bed quite early (8ish), neither parents go to work and not talkative if u see them.

Would u be concerned ?

I don't really understand what it is you are concerned about.

What’s your actual concern OP? Just that you’ve never seen him with your own eyes?
you hear happiness and laughter so surely that’s a good thing?

my neighbours never opened their curtains for years, when they moved out they had a 10 year old. They kept themselves to themselves.

Don't report them.

Knock on the door and invite her in for a coffee, a neighbourly meet and greet. You'll get a much better picture and idea of what's going on if you do that. Don't jump to conclusions.

I would be concerned. It can’t hurt to call and do a welfare check. Best to be safe

I agree @Zanatdy

There's always so much mind your own business, stay out of it.

If there is no issue, wonderful.

If there is, wonderful.

Every time I see these news reports of people lying dead for ages, you hear the neighbours saying oh I was worried but didn't want to interfere..

As a "normal" person who helps others I would not be offended by a welfare check and neither would any of the vulnerable people I check in on.

Don't ignore it. It best to err on the side of caution

If OP has seen the parents out and about without the child, that would be a concern for me (are they leaving him home alone) unless she means she sees them separately.

I would feel uncomfortable not following this up too. Maybe you could phone a non emergency police number for advice. Explain why you’re calling and that it may be nothing, but you wouldn’t want a child to be potentially be neglected and not do anything. See what they say.

This

I would be concerned, only because DS's best friend at primary school came from a house where the curtains were closed all day and, according to DS (I never went inside) there were no carpets and broken glass on the hallway floor. Rumour was they were addicts. The little boy seemed a happy little chap but wasn't cared for (didn't know about brushing his teeth, for example). I mentioned it at the school and they were aware of it/took steps to deal with it. We moved away for secondary school but I bumped into him when he would be mid-20s and he had a job and seemed happy.

Yes definitely report report report. Something dodgy going on there. Best case they're hoarders. Worst case he's locked in a room or something.

I'd probably do this too, even just so I could see inside a bit to get an idea of what's going on.

I don't find closed curtains to be particularly sinister, but then I'm a migraine sufferer with a nigh-constant white-eyelash-based squint who dreams of living in Finland for the long winter months of blessed darkness😁

A welfare check wouldn't hurt, right? It's good that you hear the child laughing and playing. Hopefully he's not ill and forced to be inside.

This is concerning if that child never leaves the house. I would call someone just incase. I really do hope if something odd was to happen to my child and someone noticed I bloody hope they would call someone to check. You are doing the right thing by calling. It is a form of child abuse to keep a child indoors 24/7

Ps I like to close my curtains as soon as it starts getting dark. I don't think curtains being shut all day is a concern or big deal.

So in three months you've lived there "no one has seen him". Have others lived there longer than you, in which case would it be a lot longer than 3 months that people haven't seen him? Is he school aged?

You could have a word about your concerns with the NSPCC and see what they have to say.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/

Just so you know I have lived next door to my neighbours 8 years. I see their middle son go to school every day as a cab collects him. I never see the other two go and indeed have very very rarely seen them in all that time. The youngest has now gone off to uni and I saw him for the first time in about 3 years because he knocked to say he was having a party in Sunmer before he went to uni.

We live in a semi where our front doors open side by side with no fence between. I never once felt the urge to ask for a welfare check and put their family under unnecessary scrutiny. 3 months over winter months is not very long when you can hear him being happy!

boys clothes on washing line and pretty much sounds like a boy, i could be wrong obviosuly

She is concerned the child living next door isn’t really the child of the adults .
That the child is never seen with the “parents” and never seen out to play .
you wouldn’t think a child lived there except….. OP knows there is a child because she can here the child .

Shoiod she report to anyone Incase it’s a kidnapped child .

I think that’s where OP is going if not it’s where I am going with the post

Yes the parents walk to the shop separtely but never try to engage in conversations, typical hoodie up earphones in

Safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility so yes i would put in a welfare check

Other neighbours have been here years and dont see the child, he doesnt play in the park attached or communcal gardens (may not be a socialable child i get that), hes never seen going to school

Noone ever sees the child, the other neighbours in our block we all get along but these dont engage or attempt to, wear black hoodies will walk the long way to avoid us

I think you need to report it that child should be going to school this all sounds concerning