Reporting someone to NSPCC

[abouttodropthebomb]

Posting for traffic but desperately need advice!

im about to report someone very close to me to the NSPCC as I believe their children might be at risk of emotional abuse.

Does anyone have experience with this? How anonymous are the reports? If we give specific examples they will immediately know it was us, which we obviously don’t want them to… so how do the NSPCC deal with this?

any tips or experiences welcome

NSPCC will simply report on to social services.

They may provide info about the concerns if asked by the parents. In our case (1× SS referral, 1 x NSPCC passed to SS,) they passed it on almost verbatim and we could work out who made it from what was said & the specific language they used.

I'd still report a genuine concern.

Do you know what anonymous means?

I don't understand your question. Of course I do. But you said that the LA can't refuse to provide a SAR. That's true, but the referrer should be redacted from any SAR.

i didn’t give my name to the nspcc but social services gave the report word for word so they knew it was me. I expected some sort of discretion.
this was also emotional neglect, they got put on the at risk register (it’s not called that anymore).
unsure what happened after that, mum was livid and angry at me and seemed more concerned with that than the kids even though she acknowledged there was an issue (to me) so I don’t expect a whole load was done.

I tried to report concerns to the NSPCC once. I filled in the online form and waited for them to ring me back.
That took a few days. They rang me when I was at work and was unable to take their call. They left messages saying they’d try once more before closing my report. They called back 10 minutes later. I was still in the sane meeting, still unable to take their call and hadn’t had any opportunity to listen to their message.
Complete waste of time imo.
I go straight to the local authority now.

How do you think a social worker can address concerns raised in a referral without discussing the details of the referral? Discretion would make the information incoherent.

Talk it through with the nspcc as you dont have much evidence.

they can raise concerns without quoting it, they can ask questions without stating every part of it.
if I’d known it wouldn’t be anonymous, I wouldn’t have reported it.

Anonymous means that they don't share the identity of the person who made the report. They can't investigate the concern without sharing information about what was reported. Can you imagine the reaction if someone posted on here that they were being investigated by social services because someone made a report that they were harming their children but the social worker wouldn't tell them what the accusation was?

They can share concerns without quoting the reporter.

so mine was emotional neglect against one child over the others, it was corroborated by an outside party.
there’s ways of asking those questions without giving the person the copy of the report. There’s ways of ensuring it’s investigated and the parents supported without the person knowing the entire report.

Not if they are doing a meaningful, effective, safeguarding investigation. I'm guessing you haven't done one, I have done many, and without discussing details of the report it would go something like this:

'we've had a report that you're harming your children'
'in what way?'
'i can't tell you any specifics. Someone said you're not looking after them properly'
'What's your evidence?'
'i can't tell you that either'
'What's been said?'
'i can't tell you'
'Ok, well I'm not. Come back when you've got some evidence'
'ok'

If vague anonymous reports are made at the same time as clear evidence - eg a police report after being called out to a disturbance, and 2 anonymous reports from neighbours were about shouting, for example, it could corroborate on balance of probabilities it was the same thing. Wouldn't stand up in court though.

😂 but without this information what are you expecting them to do?
just phone the police to do a welfare check next time

you absolutely can ask questions and raise concerns without the entire copy of the report being read. Without the person having a copy.

and one person saying something to the nspcc is not evidence, it’s just a report to be investigated.

“we’ve had a report your harming your child”
what did they say
“I can’t tell you specifics, there are concerns your emotionally neglecting x by not meeting their needs. That you perhaps didn’t bond with them and could do with some extra support”

doesnt have to be “here’s a copy of the report so you can now blow up the family”

I wish someone would have cared about me enough to report when I was younger. Please report.

The point you're missing is that if you can't discuss specifics, it's extremely easy for the parent to refute any of the vague claims. In the example you gave, if the parent is upset and defensive, as most parents are when someone has made an anonymous report about their ability as a parent, they're not going to be grateful that you're there and volunteer that yes they are struggling and yes they want to work with you and sign up for support. That's not how people react, in reality.
If the allegations shared are vague and general, it's very easy for a parent to say it's not true and must be malicious. And if as a worker you can't share anything further to show that it is likely to be true, then you have no authority to do anything. If that's your only evidence, you have nothing.
Anyone taking, or acknowledging a referral should be clear with the person referring about how the information will be used. The priority should be on safeguarding the child, and if there are genuine fears about repercussions, that should be discussed and a plan put in place. But a social worker can't and won't do a poor investigation solely to protect the feelings of the person referring, which is usually 'i don't want to affect my relationship with X/I don't want to fall out with them'.

I wish someone had reported my M for emotional abuse.
Nobody did though. And there were a lot of adults around that knew exactly what was going on.

I gave them the address. Why do they need the names and school?

I reported a safeguarding concern to a school once. Totally blew up in my face.

I completely see what your saying, i just think there’s ways of protecting reporters and still investigating it without literally giving them the report. the police manage it in tip offs that launch investigations why can’t social services?
a report is not evidence (as others have said it could be malicious), it’s just the start of the investigation, the opening of a door to ask school, and the children to try and gather facts.

it would 100% have meant I didn’t report it if I’d known. It’s not just been falling out, it’s been catastrophic as a result.

I’m sorry no body did. I think years ago emotional abuse and neglect wasn’t considered as damaging.

What database do you think NSPCC have access to? Without a name, no referral can be taken. Social services could theoretically search their own database by address but they still won't be able to identify the child you're worried about for sure, as people can move house etc and unless there is an open plan for that child at that address they can't add to a child's file without being sure who the report refers to!

Social services aren't police and don't have anywhere near the powers that they have to investigate. People think they are 'doing something' by reporting vague concerns under anonymous cover but if the parent denies the report is true and won't let you talk to the child that's it, door closed. If you have detail you can discuss, you've got something to actually hang the discussion on, and have a chance of getting somewhere.

Are the children school age? If so, you can report directly to the school. I’ve had to do it too and it was horrible. Just be prepared that you are likely not going to stay anonymous for long but it has to be done.