Am I out of order if I report this to child services?

[Em94]

For background my job involves safeguarding and if this was discovered through work I would 100% be reporting but in this instance I’m not sure it’s my place.

I have bought something off Facebook market place and been to collect today, upon arrival no one answered the door so I waited in the car and tried again.
a boy aged 9/10 answered the door & i asked if there was an adult home as I was here to collect something. The boy got the item for me let me look at it and told me his parents were in bed. (I didn’t go inside, this was all at the doorstep).
he was dirty, unclean toe nails, the house smelt and you could see the clutter everywhere. No curtains open.
I can’t stop thinking about it and unsure whether it’s my place to do anything

I would. There are too many instances when something happens to a child that something could have been done earlier

Do you really to need to ask? Of course you should report something like that.

I'm currently on mat leave from my job working in a school. I've still logged on to our safeguarding system to log concerns about children in our town, and we are all encouraged to do so by our head as it helps build a picture.

I've also contacted a local secondary school about a pupil.

I would definitely report your concern. Yours might be the only insight they have to this child's life at home. If you work in safeguarding, you know how important those snippets can be.

Contact your MASH (multi agency safeguarding hub) team at your local council.

It's a red flag that you arranged to collect at a particular time and when you arrived the parent(s) were "in bed".
Could be totally innocent (they'd forgotten and nipped out, they were on the loo etc.), but given the state of the house and the child I'd 100pc report.

Of course you should. I can't believe you're even asking this question!

It's your responsibility as a human being to report it and then its the responsibility of services to investigate on whether there is a problem or not.

Definitely report. It’s alarming firstly that he and the house were so dirty, but also that he was opening the door and interacting with strangers and no adults stopped this. Especially when they were actually expecting strangers to turn up and buy something and for some reason (drunk? Drugs?) had forgotten/were unable to respond.

I read yesterday a news article about a boy in france who was 9/10 who had been taken into care. 2yrs after his mum had abandoned him to live with her bf! Nothing got reported as he was still showing up to school clean(was washing in cold water) appeared happy and was still getting good grades. He was living in his house with no electricity or heating, using a sleeping bag and blankets, some neighbours were giving him tinned stuff he was eating it cold, and he would take veg from a neighbours garden. The mum was stopping by once a month with food(so she said) it was someone who had recently moved in to the town who notices and called ss. If u dont call O.P then who will?

Presumably the child should have been at school as well.

I would report too.

My kids constantly play in the garden and have dirty nails so I'm meh about that. Also so what if people live in clutter? I don't think you saw any evidence of abuse did you?

And if its nothing then great but why risk it

If your job involves safeguarding, surely it has been drummed into you that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. If you were concerned by what you saw, then of course you should report it.

Do you let your 9 year old open the door to strangers and deal with them without you present?

I’m also surprised so many think this needs reporting! And yes my 9 year old always opens the door to deliveries/
postman etc

Thanks everyone I will report it today I was hesitant as obviously the family know my Facebook due to buying this from there and it is obviously me who’s made the report. I have a young family and currently on maternity leave.

So what if they know your Facebook, you didn’t give them your address?

9 year old not at school
Dirty and cluttered house with curtains drawn
Boy looked unkempt
Parents in bed
9 year old opening door to strangers
Maybe one of those things on their own but altogether they paint a picture of an unhealthy environment, struggling parent (s) with potential abuse. Yes I'd definitely report. If everything is fine then good but if not at least SS have been alerted to it.

Please report so many children slip through the net.

Far better to raise a safeguarding and find there's nothing to be concerned about, than ignore it and discover that the child is being neglected and abused, or worse.

My philosophy with anything like this is that even if you think should you report it then the answer is generally yes, you should.

It’s better to contact and find out no further action was needed than not report and find out months down the line something dreadful happened that could have been stopped if you reported.

They won’t know who reported them but you could be saving a life.

Could be anyone reporting, neighbours, postman, school

SS do care about things like that.

That's what would worry me too. I would probably still report it but I'd be worrying about reprisal.

Every single time.

How often when we hear about a child dying or being abused does everyone say why didn't anyone notice or do anything or how many missed opportunities were there?

Imagine being a child is a neglect/abusive situation. They have no idea how to get help or what to do. A stranger reporting something could positively change their life.

If your assumptions are wrong, an investigation will be clear it up easily. I cannot see a downside.