AIBU to report concerns after collecting toys from a very squalid house?

[Joeydoesntsharefood25]

Aibu to call social services about the house i just bought some toys off Facebook market place?
Went to collect some toys i bought. House is a state from the outside. Filthy curtains, stuff piled up in the windows, very run down. Man opened door and a dozen flies flew out the house. He handed me the toy took the money and left. And then I was hit with the smell. I looked at the toy and it was wet and sticky. Its a washable surface so I put it in a plastic bag in my car. After a few mins in the car the smell hit me. Animal urine. It was god awful. When I got home I dumped the lot in a bucket and covered it in bleach and hot water. I went to message the man to give him a piece of my mind and he has blocked me. Now I am really worried this man has a kid thats living in that state. An adult can choose to live in squalor but a child or an animal cant. Are there any social workers on here that can advise me? The only clue i have that there is a child is that he was selling toys. Now I am going to scrub myself in bleach because I dont think I will ever feel clean again.

I totally get your concern and yes I wouldn't hesitate to report him.
However what kind of idiot would advertise kids stuff on fb,allowing people to collect, see the squalor, he's either stupid or hasn't got any kids,that could potentially lead him to be in trouble.
You ought to of knocked on a neighbours door and tried to find out the sp on them

Rspca are notoriously useless at doing anything neglected dogs /horses they just do nothing, it's very well known especially in the horse world

I’m another SW. Definitely report

sounds grim.....it might be a child playing on animal urine and poo....surely a child deserves better ....not sure what to advise

I was on rightmove looking for a property and one came up where obviously very young children/ baby were living in squalor. I reported it to Social services and included a link to the property. I mentioned that perhaps the people living there needed support. I received an acknowledgment from SS. Hope it made a difference. if I was you I would do the same.

Report it, you might be the first or you could be the tenth person to report concerns, either way it’ll get logged and might be one part in helping to build a bigger picture. Along with a ton of other stuff I grew up in squalor, it still pisses me off 30 years later that nobody helped me as a child.

This is great to hear.
I’ve done dozens (hundreds) of referrals to SS as I used to work in safeguarding for the Fire Service. If a crew came across anything concerning ncerni g, either when attending an incident or when doing fire safety visits, they’d let me know and I’d pass it on.
When I did as doing my safeguarding training we studied the case of Victoria Clumbier (sp?) who was horrifically abused by her aunt before being murdered. It appears that this abuse was noted by various people who’d visited the home eg. plumber, meter reader, etc. but said nothing because it was ‘none of their business’
Legislation was brought in on the back of this and is actually an offence not to report something if it concerns you if later on it results in a child suffering harm.
“Safeguarding is everyone’s business”

I'm pretty sure RSPCA won't do anything about this.

I agree,2 dead dogs were found in a house by me after 100's of calls by dozens of neighbours to the RSPCA, local council and police were made. The RSPCA did come over after the landlord reported finding the dead dogs and one dying. I've had a number of instances where they have not acted on information.

What SS do is outside of your control. But you can make sure that if nothing is done, it will not be because nobody was told about it. And I suspect you will feel uneasy until you do something.

It’s much better to phone during working hours. Evening and weekends are staffed to respond to absolute emergencies, this isn’t an emergency. Better to speak to a duty worker tomorrow who has time to do background checks etc that it sit with out of hours.

There’s no mandatory reporting requirement in the UK at present, so no it’s not an offence not to report. There may be a contractual requirement depending on your job role, and certainly and moral and ethical imperative but no statutory requirement.

Trust me they can
Op you can report your concerns to local childrens servces who can do an unnanounced visit if there are childrrn living there and the parents refuse to cooperate they can be charged with neglect and the children can be removed aa an emergency

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Victoria_Climbi%C3%A9

Lots to read here, but very interesting re. The Children’s Act 2004, Children’s Commissioner etc.

@Fireangels yes I learned about that one during teacher safeguarding training. Wasn’t it a taxi driver who reported it in the end? Shows the importance of everyday people in reporting these kinds of things. Yes safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

He probably found the toy on the ground or something.

Im assuming that as OP was the buyer then the man has no idea of your contact details, while you have his. If there is any involvement from SS the man would have no reason to suspect you. He would assume it was a neighbour. Odd that he blocked you on FB. Did you perhaps make your feelings plain when you were talking to him?

The death of Victoria Climbie brought about significant changes in child protection practice, and changes to law. There is still no mandatory reporting of abuse and neglect, other than child sexual abuse in England and that’s a relatively recent development. The devolved nations have no mandated reporting duty as yet.

Yes please report that little boy Hamzas home was in a similar condition and we know what happened there. Better to be safe than sorry and ignore anyone who says social services won’t be interested. They definitely will be.

Yes this needs reporting.

That sounds like traveller community where kids helping in the business is normal. They’d have been asking questions to check re modern slavery

The RSPCA is nothing but a money making scheme!

Better phoning (and donating) to small, local animal rescues.
I would report to SS ASAP. Goodness only knows what is in that house, people do go into properties and find deceased people that haven't been dealt with! Yes it is rare but it does happen.

It's everyone's duty to safeguard children so yes, I'd definitely report it. It may not meet a threshold for a visit but may help SS see a pattern.

In isolation, you're probsbly right, but what if other reports had already been made and OP's report helped them build a bigger picture?

Please do report to the RSPCA. I had to report someone for neglecting their cat. The RSPCA did come out the following morning and took action.
I have also reported some travellers ponies tied by the side of a busy road. They did take a look, but couldn't do anything as they had water and grass and no sores etc, so as far as the law was concerned they were being cared for. Still glad I reported though.
If RSPCA see the state of the home and suspect animals or children there, they will most likely contact the police.