Visited parent and house smelt of weed- should I report?

[smellysaurusmum]

I work in one of the caring professions and visited the house of a family where the 7 year old daughter has severe medical needs. The house was a state, daughter was on the floor and moved around by crawling everywhere- she seemed happy and crawled over to me for a cuddle. Nothing in that home seemed like there were any safeguarding needs. However, from the minute I walked in, the smell of weed hit me between the eyes and stayed there until I left. Am I within my rights to report the family for drugs being on the premises or should I let go? I have really empathy for the parents dealing with what they are but also feel duty bound to report them. Having said that, other professionals will have been in and smelled the same and not reported the family- should I let it go?

Who will you report it to? Social services? Does the family already have a social worker? In which case yes you need to share your concerns about how well the child is being cared for and evidence of drug use. If you mean "reporting" it to the police I think that would be a bit heavy handed.

Also in your role (whatever that is) you will have policies about stuff like this which you should follow and if you still aren't sure speak to your supervisor.

You have safeguarding training surely?

Follow that

If you are in a caring profession then you'll have done safeguarding training which will tell you to report any concerns and how to do that within your organisation

You'll also have been told not to discuss clients with others so this post is ill advised

I work in one of the caring professions

What 'caring profession' leads you to home visits with absolutely no protocol to follow for things you might find?

You should be asking your boss about this not mumsnet.

There should be a safeguarding lead in your organisation to discuss this with. However yes report it; if you’re breathing it in then so are they

You really should have a work policy on this.

Never, ever, let “but other professionals must have seen this” get in the way of you reporting something. That attitude is at the heart of virtually every serious case review I’ve ever read.

Am I within my rights to report the family for drugs being on the premises or should I let go?

Surely if you work in a caring profession you have done safeguarding training and your organisation has a clear procedure to follow if you have any concerns?
You should be discussing how to proceed with your senior not some random people on Mumsnet

The great thing about safeguarding training is that it teaches you that you don’t have to make difficult safeguarding decisions. All you have to do is report anything that makes you even slightly concerned to your safeguarding lead. They then make the difficult decisions.

If you're not sure, ask your boss.
Ask for this post to be deleted. Completely unprofessional!

This is not the place to be asking this. You need to discuss it with your line manager.

Am I within my rights to report the family for drugs being on the premises or should I let go?

I don't understand how you can even ask this? You surely know you're within your rights to report anything you're concerned about?

As everyone else has said, discuss this with your safeguarding lead and about the house being “a state”. How do you know that no other professional has reported concerns?

This can’t be real.

There’s no way you could work in a role like that without having done safeguarding training.

Follow training and safeguarding procedures 👎

Have a little gossip about a struggling family on MN in the hope of a pile on for them 👍

You know many, many families who need support are on here, right? They would absolutely recognise themselves from this thread.

Honestly, just do your job, and stop talking about your clients online where they could easily see it.

I'm an agency worker. I'm new. They haven't provided safeguarding training for me yet. I've hit the ground running in this new job. Drugs are rife where I am. This wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary for the families my team work in. I have a supervisor in theory but they're off on long term sick and there's no one else to report to in their absence.

I meant reporting drug use to the family's social worker not the police.

in that case report both the weed and your agency to the social worker.

You should report it, because on balance not reporting it could have more serious repercussions than reporting it.

It’s just really concerning that you feel it’s an appropriate to ask this question on social media rather than speak to your boss.

Sounds like a dodgy agency to send you out without any training and with no supervisor

Report it then get out of dodge before you end up being scapegoated by this dodgy company

You're in a caring role, supporting vulnerable families, but had no training and have no one to report to, so resort to social media to ask advice?

I would be reporting the company before even thinking about this family.

You're clearly ill equipped to do this job, and have no support or training. How many others are there like you?

These families deserve better.

This is crazy op. Of course you know what to do. Even if you are agency you know what to do because it's the same everywhere.
If you feel there were drugs in the house in the presence children or other vulnerable people (rather than say in the lobby of a block of flats) you reported it as a safeguarding each and every time.Not to the police or social services unless you think there is a real and immediate risk of significant harm occurring.
If you don't know the procedure involved in doing this then ask your manager today. Go and email them now. If you are professionally registered failing to report safeguarding incidents will find you in trouble with your professional body.

And "the state of the house".

This is a terrible agency. Find a new one.

If you have not done the safeguarding training you should not be visiting houses alone. Reporting a possible concern is always the right thing to do, the authorities can then decide whether to pursue more investigation