To be shocked at this non-attendance by the police?

[JMSA]

Last weekend, as I was making my way home from a dog walk, a man fell to the pavement in front of me. I rushed over to help him get back to his feet and it quickly became apparent that he was blind drunk. No sooner had I helped him up than he was face-planting the pavement again. He had his 7 year old child with him. The child shut down completely, and wouldn't look at me or talk to me. Obviously a trauma response. But he didn't look shocked.
I phoned the police, saying that I had a welfare concern about the child. They replied that they'd marked it as a priority but couldn't say when they'd get someone out. They were busy. They asked me to phone them back if the man became violent towards his child
I stayed with them because I work with vulnerable kids and couldn't in good conscience walk away.
The man sat on a step trying to phone a taxi, but was too drunk to use his phone. He started getting tetchy with his son, because he expected him to phone the taxi! Son started feeling a bit more comfortable with me. I had some sweets in my bag which he enjoyed, and he showed off his jumping skills. Over an hour passed and the man stood up and declared himself able to walk home. He literally staggered home with his son. I followed at a distance to make sure they got in ok.
The police phoned me later for a statement.
I'm not naive and I know they're stretched, but bloody hell ... the poor kid

Not an A & E matter ... at that point. Ambulances are not a taxi or welfare service.

All our public services are suffering because we are pouring money into other areas. The third biggest expenditure of tax money, after health and welfare, is paying off the interest on the national debt.

Didn't you go to see them the next day? I remember you moved out and wouldn't give them the address, for valid reasons.

So true. My childhood home was a dangerous place. Memories of the kindness of strangers have stayed with me my whole life.

Thank you for caring OP.

What do you mean “asked me to call the police”?

A drunk in A/E would take how many hours to sober up and be safe enough to get themselves home ? 4, 6?? blocking a bed. If A/E discharged him and he wasn't sober and fell and injured himself I'm sure they'd be in trouble.
The police could put him in a cell but that requires someone to be around to make sure he doesn't choke on vomit or whatever.
I can see why they don't rush to the aid of regular drunks.

I don’t think they are set up to deal with vulnerable children, or maybe they just don’t care.
I used to work occasionally as an Appropriate Adult, attending minors in police stations when their parents couldn’t/wouldn’t, and saw police send 12 & 13 year olds home with parents in drugged/alcoholic hazes- they couldn’t send minors home alone at night so kept them until the parents finally showed up. I was horrified. I think they thought that if they called SS it would take too long for anyone to show up to collect the children and they didn’t want the aggro of arguing with drunk adults, so they just sent the kids home with them as the easiest option.
These poor kids are being failed by their parents and by society.

you did what you could op

Report it to the head of that police force & your MP, appalling response. That poor child.

OP thank goodness you were there but how awful for that child.

Unfortunately this is not a new thing, the passing of vulnerable and chaotic people, a danger to themselves and others, from one agency to another even during obvious crises.

In my 20s walking home late one night my then BF and I came across an elderly man, yes, drunk, and bleeding from a fall outside a local eye hospital. While BF stayed with him I knocked on their door, only to be told it wasn't their problem and to call the police. It was pre mobile phone days so I had to locate a phone box and then it took several hours for an ambulance to come out. The overall attitude from all involved was irritation.

I'm now in my 50s. A few years ago while I had my shop in a "problematic " area where I did a fair amount of unofficial social work in essence, trying to help people I had one incident that still makes me shudder. It wasn't even one of the usual suspects, but a fairly "respectable" but blind drunk and distressed man who came in and offloaded his woes and then became increasingly agitated. By a strange series of events my MIL was there with me - she was in the early stages of dementia - not care home ready, living with us because she couldn't be left alone, and this was very disturbing to her. The police station was literally a street away so I called for help as he was a big chap and he would not leave. I had tried every bit of drunk whispering I could so it was the last resort. It took over an hour for a PCSO to arrive by which time drunk man had passed out on the floor. The PSCO basically huffed, puffed and toe punted him awake giving the impression it was all a waste of his time and that I should have been able to deal with it. If I hadn't had a vulnerable old woman in the shop I would have been a bit less restrained but I was worried about him kicking off. I was left feeling I had wasted police time.

But I can't bear the idea that children I these situations aren't prioritised and can only thank God you were able to mitigate things and hopefully start a bit of a ball rolling to get some intervention for the poor kid I the future. Hopefully.

How can they despatch someone if they’re all otherwise engaged?

Thanks for your kind comments, everyone.

@Soontobe60
Literally just that. After taking all the details, the ambulance service told me to phone either the non-emergency police number or 999. I firstly phoned the former and there was a 90 minute wait even to be answered. In the absence of all other help, I had no choice but to call 999.

I understand the frustration of the police but there are no other services! That's the problem. Going back to OP I know SS are stretched, but it does seem to me that children growing up with drug and alcohol addiction just isn't a concern for SS unless the mother is using hard drugs in pregnancy. There are plenty of parents round here with these issues with multiple children living with them. I know their lives are awful. And it's not like they're brilliant parents minus the addiction problems either.

i believe there is a chronic shortage of foster parents as well

Emergencies that consist of being people being at risk of serious and immediate harm. It will have been downgraded because the op was present and the child was s&w with the op present. Sad but true. The services are on their knees

I think that is good advice.
At least they will know what is happening on the ground and can't say they weren't aware.

Yes I had this phrase barked at me repeatedly with no explanation when I was trying to get a welfare check for an alcoholic. She said I needed to call the ambulance rather than her after a long wait time. I asked how and she said 999. It absolutely wasn't a 999 thing and it wasn't for the ambulance. After the third time and me saying "I'm not sure why you keep saying that", she explained it was a new policy.

I seem to find myself in these situations on nights out where someone falls over and breaks their nose or wees themselves in a quiet pub unaware of where they are and no one cares so I end up walking them to hospital or home and trying to get follow up care is an absolute joke. One of the three people I've tried to help is dead now and I think it's because all agencies tried to pass her off to the other.

@JMSA I'm sure you've made a world of difference to that kid. I'd be tempted to knock on today or over the weekend and see how the dad is. If you're confident enough, you'll then be able to see how the kid is.

Report them anonymously to adult social services and child if you can. The poor mother either has no idea this is happening or is terrified but has to allow contact. It's heartbreaking but I'm glad there's people like you out there. You've done the right thing and more than many but I'd be chasing police and social services for the kid

Your focus here is on the man. It should have been the child.

1. I'd have started by focusing on what the child can tell me - where do you live? Is there another adult at home? What's their name? Are there other children at home?

2. Then trying to get the child (not the adult) to safety. Phone home. Leave and go to the home to fetch someone. Take them together.

3. Finally, if getting the child to safety couldn't happen, the phone call to police is regarding the child being at immediate risk of harm. Likewise call to children's services, but with more info this time.

Are you for real? Of course my focus was on the child.
Do you honestly think I'd stick around for the best part of 2 hours for some drunken bloke? Or give a shit about following him home?
You must have missed the part where I told you that the child shut down. The only thing he'd talk to me about was his cat and his jumping. You know, safe stuff like that.
Honestly, how insulting.

I was trying to figure out why the child would need an ambulance?

And a call to police to report a drunk adult would strike me as less of a priority than a child with no adequate carer and no way of knowing how to get to safety.

I can assure you that the child was my main focus in the call to the police. I mentioned in my OP that I was phoning with a welfare concern for a child.
Only an idiot would treat the child as the secondary concern in all of this

Do you normally miss the point this much?

And I was able to give the police:

• both their names
• their exact ages
• the school the child attends
• their address
• a full statement

If that's not doing my bit, I don't know what is!

Ah OP, you did your best. Things like this scare the shit out of me. That poor, poor child. Thank you for caring.