To alert LA/School/Social Services

[Usedphone]

Yesterday while I was doing the school run I witnessed a dad shouting horribly (and horrible things) to a poor little boy. You could hear the boy screaming from a block away. I was in a rush, and really didn't want to confront this angry man, so just kept walking with my son.

Today, I saw the same boy (I didn't see him yesterday, only heard him) but he had the most horrible black eye and the rest of his face was incredibly swollen.

I'm sure both are connected but I have no evidence. Who can I alert about this?

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

why do you need to send your witness statement to the school? the police would not ask you to do this?

Because she’s making it up as she goes along.

I was told by them so the school could connect the dots. I was going to do so anyway, as that was suggested by the social worker.

Omg, this is awful. And far too much of a coincidence

And yes, obviously report.

the school don't need to connect any dots! i'm really sorry, but this is a detail too far!

This isn’t what would happen. I worked in schools for years. SS would be the one leading this not the school. If school had concerns they themselves would also contact SS.

That's literally what the social worker told me to do.

She said "the heads are normally very good at checking their emails during holidays" almost verbatim.

The local police is useless anyway, when my daughter did something that was fairly risky (and according to the NSPCC a police matter) one police officer told me it wasn't and told me off, and then I called again to complaint for the appalling way she treated me. The second one told me it was a police matter. So I genuinely don't think their great or agree on what's the right way of dealing with things.

In the end the police did come to have a chat with my daughter.

Think whatever you like, it's definitely not BS. I've done what I think is the right thing.

yeah... this is also utter rubbish! what the social worker will have told you, if you did ring them to report this, is to ring the Police! no if's and but's, no telling you rubbish about emails etc.

you need to stop this now.

Don't know why others are saying this has nothing to do with the school .. if you don't know his surname then of course the school are involved, to help identify the boy?! Bizarre others are suggesting otherwise. Well done, if it's a coincidence, it'll be easily explained. If not, you've definitely done the right thing.

Sara Sharif
Daniel Pelka
Victoria Climbie
Baby P

Remember these names? This is why you report it!

Contact school, tell them date, time what you heard / saw etc…

Contact the mash / front door / emergency duty team, called different things in different areas but they are part of children’s services at your local council (Google will give you the number)

They will both work together to protect this little boy.

Please please please report. Don’t ignore

Nobody said it has nothing to do with the school.

However it is SS who would be speaking to them and 'joining the dots', they wouldn't be asking the OP to do it. There are national childsafeguarding frameworks that must legally be followed so there is no way what the OP is saying is true. There is also no way school would discuss another pupil with her.

I've reported the OP now anyway to MN

Schools, Social Services and Police are supposed to work closely together. It may be more smooth in certain areas than others - but you have done the right thing @Usedphone telling the school too. Heads are often incredibly important part of the jigsaw in these cases. You did great and I’m sure it was horrible … poor poor boy. Just think of him if/ when you wobble and keep chasing up xxx

Inks I'm well aware of how SS work. Also how schools work. Whilst they wouldn't discuss another students detail with OP, their DSL should be available even out of hours to respond to concerns. The school will be an important part of piecing together the identity of the child. Although agree it odd that OP has been told to forward the statement. That surprises me.

It won’t hurt for her to do this. I agree there are Nat guidelines and frameworks but it won’t hurt for her to also notify the school surely?
Who knows how smoothly they work in every area. A concerned mother pushing organisations to act could be literally the difference between life and death x

At ease @Widgets

You're way behind.

Your opportunity to be the hero that persuaded the OP to do the obvious has been and gone.

Another saying this is made up because the police wouldnt have a person to log this against, as they dont know the child's full name. I can tell you that the police dont go phoning around trying to get details of someone if they dont know the details of that person.

i dont think anyone has suggested its nothing to do with the school? you would think that as a parent (which OP appears to be), that has witnessed 2 separate issues regarding the safety and well being of a child, the very first thing they would have done, is to go to the office at the school and tell them immediately what they have seen or at the very least, phoned the police and ask for advice. not leave it for a day or 2, mull it over, and then and only then ask the WWW 'what should i do?'. in this day and age, with everything going on in the world, its got to be impossible for a parent not to know what to do in an event like this?

Why announce the reporting and why repeatedly troll hunt? Genuine question

1000% report what you heard. They should be concerned. Poor little boy