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 ?

Thanks they are never open even the blinds in the kitchen (opposite mine and another nighbours) rarely any lights on as well

what was really creepy, a friend and I as children were in a train compartment, and heard a woman being beaten up in the next compartment...We nearly pulled the alarm cord, but the next station wasn't far away {London} -
We told the guard and he went to look...and came back and said ''It's only a man in there- no woman at all...''

When the train started up again, so did the sounds... Wether the bloke was mimicking a woman's voice and a man's to this day we never knew.

Do you think it could be a bizarre game where one pretends to be a ''little child?''...to not see a child is very unusual, even in wintertime.

Just because she hadn't seen him go doesn't mean he isn't going.

Ring whom?

Oh leave them alone.

Ew eery, I work with children and its almost definate there is a child there as other neighbours know the couple with the boy in the top flat

Thanks

you here all these horror stories of these kids getting trafficked. There is an NSPCC report line you can do it anonymous at least then you have done what you can I think it does sound odd as he should be attending school. 0808 800 5000 this is the helpline number

If he sounds happy, I'd not worry.

If a child was sobbing then definitely do a welfare check.

I hope he's ok.
Family member lives next door to a family where the children {Under 5's} are rarely if ever taken out {they do play in the garden though}.

Better safe than sorry. No harm caused by checking. If more people did this it would save a lot of children.

A child doesn’t have to be sobbing to be neglected.

@Jacksmom4eva If you work with children have you spoken to the safeguarding lead at your place of work? They may be able to reassure you whether to report or not. Other than that, I'd phone NSPCC and talk through concerns.

You can only go on what you see/hear OP, the child may be absolutely fine and you're just missing the times when he does go out. But you don't know that, because equally he may be being kept indoors at all times which IMO is not healthy for a child to thrive and have their needs met.

Is he of school age? If not it's common to not see neighbours for weeks at a time in winter unless you're keeping watch 24.7 but if he's if school age you should see them taking him to school/nursery

Could they have lost a child - and what you're hearing is videos from their past?

Sadly, these things happen.

Can you go over with a New Year's gift for the family, maybe with a small gift that any family would normally invite the boy to receive himself?

I agree that this sounds strange, but maybe you just keep different hours to the family and it would be awful to get them on some social services register if this is all to do with the fact that you are rarely at home when they are out and about.

But if you do still have any remaining concern then call social services. Better that than end up in one of those awful stories where all the neighbours say they thought something was wrong but nobody spoke up until it was too late.

I've mentioned it to a safeguarding lead who mentioned reportiing to social care

The child is heard being happy, playing games, has clean clothes, goes to bed at a reasonable time.

Ops concern is the neighbours don't talk to her (neither would I with the clear level of gossiping happening with other neighbours after living there for 5 minutes) and that she hasn't seen this child, after 3 months, over winter, in a new neighbourhood.

As you've never seen an actual child could it be the playing is the neighbour and they have learning difficulties.

Definitely! A quick call to social services is the right thing to do! You can never be too cautious when it comes to child safety. I’m flabbergasted by the comments telling you to leave them alone! You are absolutely right to be concerned.

Definitely arrange a welfare check if you're concerned.
I live in a block of flats though and there's 4 other kids all the same age as my daughter and one a year younger. I barely saw them, and didn't even know the youngest one existed, until they all started school and we'd be in and out at the same time for the school run. Prior to that I tended to be out most days and we didn't really pass each other.

The closed curtains does sound a bit strange with the fact they don't really speak to anyone.

how old do you recon the boy is?

That’s not what OPs concern is, you’re being deliberately obtuse. And the other neighbours have lived there years and also haven’t seen the child.

Its not that were nosey at all but when u share a gate and path with the whoole block and neighburs who have been here longer than me havent seen the child just the parents separately, then when u do see the parents they avoid the whole block and will walk the long way home to not walk past you even with heavy bags of shopping, ive taken in parcels for them and when u knock they dont answer and neither collect them, i even took in a iceland shop and it was never collected....

sounds about 5 6ish

Wow the more OP posts the more creepier it gets. There's no harm in getting in touch with social services and explain your concerns. They can then decide whether to take any steps or not.