Police referred us to social services because I reported my neighbour for harassment

[Blackandwhite191919]

I've been having problems with a neighbour who likes to bang on the walls/ceiling when my children are playing. He has also been at my door multiple times, the most recent time he was loud and swearing at me. I reported it to the police with the hope of obtaining a harassment warning. I have an earlier post about it.

So the police came and I provided a statement, I'm just waiting to hear back on their next steps.

Yesterday morning I received an out of the blue call from social services. They'd received the info from the police and were calling as a formality. It put the fear of God into me.

There were no safeguarding concerns raised about me/my parenting, our home etc. They have no plans to come out and get involved - so it was completely pointless and unnecessary, but a formality apparently.

I have a lot of trauma from my experiences with the police and social services from when I was young, there's far too much to go into, so it took a lot of courage for me to reach out and report this neighbour in the first place.

One example of many - I once called the police as I'd been assaulted and locked in the house (domestic abuse) but because the abuser lied and told them I'd assaulted him - I got arrested, even though he had a long history of doing the same things.

I have now reverted back to not wanting to deal with the police at all and likely won't ask for help again in the future which isn't ideal as I may well need them at some point.

AIBU to think they shouldn't have done that?

Yes, sorry it upset you - I think anyone would be thrown, and sounds like you had a trauma response. Glad you are feeling better about it now.

@Blackandwhite191919 I had a neighbour harassing me. The police told me that as a matter of routine they always tell children's services when they have to come out and there's children involved. I never got a call from it mind. But mine wasn't a drug dealer either so that wasn't why.

Ah understood. It's not something I've had to deal with before I moved here so I wasn't aware it was protocol until after I made the thread. I'm glad I posted and take comfort in the fact it's not just me.

What happened with your neighbour btw, was he prosecuted?

No
Police told me it's very very difficult to get something done with neighbour problems.
We tried. It went to court. But on the little evidence we got (2 incidents in a couple of days) it wasn't enough for the court to deem it harassment. All about the legal definition of harassment and the fact that the court could only take into account those 2 incidents and apparently weren't allowed to look at the bigger picture and everything else they did.
But in the end they moved out! Because they hated us (even though we weren't doing anything wrong) and we were the only ones who had managed to get evidence on them and kept going to police about them and they didn't like that.

It's safeguarding protocol any police call out or report where children are involved, present or to an address where they live, generates a referral. Continuous reports would see social services support with home safe Katy measures or a referral to someone who can provide those for you.

It's part of the new safeguarding regulations brought out to protect all under 18's in 2020.

As you have done nothing wrong I wouldn't worry about a call from social services. I

Police should have explained the process to you. Yes, it’s part of procedures but it’s still going to be incredibly stressful to receive a call from social services especially when you have the history you do.You were never going to get much sympathy on here as posters frequently recommend contacting social services all the time on friends and family (see thread on friend whose 3 year old has too much screen time 🙄).

There obviously safeguarding elements raised. Whether it’s well-being, welfare, abuse or neglect….something was raised. Social services receive a lot of referrals and many are not followed up because they are triaged and deemed not meeting the threshold for intervention.
something was said or observed that warranted the referral.

Factually inaccurate. It’s only when the call or information meets a specific threshold….just because children were there doesn’t warrant a referral. The thresholds of needs is quite clear.

Yes, it turns out the neighbour is a drug dealer. His flat was raided yesterday evening and he hasn't been seen since. I surmise that he's in the cells and being kept in to be put before a magistrate on Monday morning. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.

In light of that I do understand why a safeguarding concern would be raised. They were privy to information about him that I wasn't.

There was no concerns raised about me or my children personally, the social worker on the telephone made that very clear.

OP harassment by neighbour is something you could legal advice on how to deal with it. How to record harassment etc.

That's a good idea. I'm not very clued up on what the process is these days. I did provide a big stack of papers with times and dates of the numerous times he's been a prat.

I now understand that I can report all of this to the council as antisocial behaviour, even though neither me nor the neighbour are council tenants (as far as I know). That was news to me.

There's still no sign of his car. God I hope he's going to be remanded on Monday.

I'd be interested to see if you get any further with the council/if they're any help OP

That makes a lot more sense than OP’s situation, what on earth can SS do, force OP to move? Nope. Force the neighbour to move? Nope. So what was the point of them being called, they literally can’t do anything about this situation.

I actually did have to take my youngest to A&E a few months ago as he reached up and knocked a cup of freshly boiled water. I was making a cup of tea at the time and whilst fortunately I was quick enough to stop the whole cup toppling over him he did end up with a scalded hand from what splashed out.

They said they have to make health visitors aware of anything like that with small children and I was completely fine with that, they could tell it was a genuine accident and they see it alot.

Surprisingly, I didn't hear from a health visitor at all.. so it felt a bit, idk, inconsistent.. that something like reporting harassment would trigger a followed up referral but an injured child didn't.

Yes, very strange! I had to take my son to a&e when he was 2 (he’s now 7) as he’d fallen and knocked his head - I was fully expecting a call from someone or a follow up but heard nothing.

It seems like a complete waste of resources for SS to be called in this case; there’s clearly absolutely nothing they could do - they woudnt have any powers at all relating to the neighbour and you’re not doing anything to your children so what could they say to you?

It would likely have been because they clearly had quite some information on the neighbor, but not enough, and jumped on the opportunity to investigate him.

Given the context, they would reasonably definitely have to inform SS, although I agree with all PPs that it is in no way a reflection on you OP - and agree with the advice for going forward on trying not to let this incident color your (very understandable, although unfortunately you’re definitely far from the only one, so try not to see it personally - sometimes they get things right, sometimes they don’t) views on authorities.

In this case it seems they did do overall what they were supposed to (while I work in a related field, I couldn’t possibly comment on an individual situation that I don’t know the specifics of), and I would also second the advice of trying a free legal consult (and also data requests from your past experiences) to make sure you have all the facts, it might help reassure you. Aside from that, you’re entirely in your rights to ask the police ( just go for 101 rather than 999 though I would think, and just keep it to specifics re your neighbor’s home being raided right after your call basically) about how your privacy has been protected regarding your neighbor’s situation. (This is only my personal, not professional opinion though, I hope you get rid of your neighbor in any case !)

But they have no investigating powers relating to random people - so what powers would they have to approach the neighbour?

As they raided his flat, and yes as you mentioned they can’t investigate random people otherwise I agree, it doesn’t seem like he was a completely random unknown person - OP’s call might have been the opportunity to go ahead with it (the added aspect of harassment of neighbor’s children). But I don’t know at all, hence my recommendation for OP to just ask (through proper channels) for hopefully future peace of mind in general.

Edited to add : I’ve only just seen a mention of a past thread on this, so I may be completely beside the point on some aspects

I can’t edit anymore it seems sorry (and didn’t actually find a previous thread), but just wished to apologise (without derailing the thread hopefully) @Lizzie67384 I think I may have misinterpreted your message, which seemed directed towards SS (which is my field in a general sense) investigation, while I responded to the police aspect - so overall yes I agree with your reply, I meant that given the context OP really shouldn’t see it as personal (as hard and understandable as it is given her past experiences) given that the police would definitely have been duty bound to report an issue with a clearly very suspected drug dealer involving her children (if I have understood the situation correctly in any case).
So, it’s definitely not a reason to lose trust this time, as evidenced by SS not furthering anything (they could try to help accommodation wise theoretically, but realistically it’s nowhere near any current threshold)
(And this is why I usually just read more than post while on sleep deprived mat leave !)

I wish you the best OP 💐

but who are you distrustful of?
Doesn't sound like you trusted the neighbour anyway.
As others have explained the police probably didn't get any choice in submitting the referral and the idea (albeit it didn't happen) was to protect you and your kids rather than being a concern about you.

I once called the police on an abusive partner. They came and he answered the door and said " ignore her she's drunk", I wasn't. I was stood at the top of the stairs, they could see me, and they walked away. I got another beating before they'd started the car.

Sigh, the neighbour is back. What a disappointment. Hopefully because he's in bother with the police or has been, he might leave me alone for a bit.

That's disgusting Morganrae1 I'm so sorry. Shame on them.

Your post reminded me of another experience I had which mirrors yours, although it wasn't the police at the door it was a mutual friend of mine and his. I stood at the top of the stairs and shouted for him to call the police. He didn't, then I got another beating.

It's not a waste of resources because it could be a case of child abuse including homes with DC where drug dealing is happening where the OP is attempting to deflect and get in first by complaining about the neighbours in case they've reported the family/house to Police or CYPSS.

" Next door said there's loads of noise and my kids are always crying and people coming in and out all hours? rubbish, he's a prick complaining about normal DC noise, i've already reported him for harrassing us"

Or it could be a Mum with MH problems who has a history of unfounded complaints against neighbours/the school/whoever; and needs help.

In this case, there were no other concerns about OP but the Police aren't to know that, so they put in a referral so CYPSS can check the family and see if here or have been other concerns or reports.

It's child safeguarding. Which most people seem to think is important till it applies to them.

But that wasn’t the case here was it - the OP reported the incident to the police, the police then reported that incident to SS, unless you are suggesting the police reported a different situation to SS?

You've missed the point - the Police don't know if there have been any previous concerns about the OP from CYPSS, the school, healthcare or elsewhere till they put in a referral to CYPSS.