in worrying about my neighbours little girls?

[JazzieJeff]

I am worried about my next door neighbours' little girls. Since dh and I moved into our flat 7 months ago, we constantly hear them screaming at them to the point where they are bellowing and their voices are cracking with the strain. It's quite often combined with hysterical crying and loud bangs. I've nipped home un the day before and heard similar and its gotten worrying. Dh and I have both tried knocking on the door but to no answer, and when we see them and say hello, they barely acknowledge us. I wouldn't make a fuss, I know kids are trying and the best of us get frustrated, but you have to believe me when I say it'd be frightening for a lot of adults let alone little girls. I don't know what to do, or if I'm overreacting. I don't want to get anyone into trouble but neither do I want to be the indirect cause of a child's pain. AIBU and what do I do? Please help, I feel a bit stuck

Edam, yes ss just told us to ring the police who would go round and check up on them if we were worried because the kids weren't on the at risk register.

Can you ring again and explain how concerned you are - exactly what you describe on here? surely this is serious enough for a visit to see if all is Ok -which obviously is not-

Juju, yes I will definately phone again and hammer the point home although we were fairly concise last time. Ss seemed rather disinterested and implied that we should make more effort to get to know neighbours, but what can I do? Hammer the door down?

fgs how ridiculous, why would you want to befriend them under the circs?

I hope you get someone more receptive - do keep us posted.

Hi, I appreciate you are in a difficult position, but i agree with others, in that our gut instincts are usually pretty reliable, and you should go with yours.
Please phone SS again-they have a statutory duty to follow-up calls-they cannot, and should not say to phone the police, just cos dc are not known to them.
I would ask to speak to a Senior Social Worker next time you ring, or a child protection worker and explain this is the 2nd time you have rung, the situation is on-going and you would like/expect your call to be followed up. You could also ask them to let you know when someone has been out.
If you think you are getting the "brush-off" again, you could bring-up other high profile child-protection cases such as Baby P and explain in this light, SS should be doing their utmost to "protect" potentially vunlerable dc. Good Luck, and let us know how you get on.

Quite bigpants - 'ooh, we can't do anything they are not on the at risk register' is A. untrue and B. begs the question, how on earth does a child get on the register on the first place? Is there a waiting list or something?

(Your SS dept could be one of those that is running with hideously high vacancy levels and poor management, such as Birmingham... but that would be their problem, not yours and certainly not the children's.)

do you know which school they go to?
the school have more contacts and would know a fuller picture of the family.

I'm wondering, if you sent a letter ( and you could do this anonymously if you preferred) wouldn't they have to deal with it... because they would have to keep it on file?
If you knew what school the older child went to, you could send a letter of concern about their welfare to the headteacher who will almost definately pass it on...he/she will know if staff have concerns too.

Bigpants, thank you I will definately do as you suggest and ask for a senior officer. It's hard to know what to say at times ie what to ask etc. Tbh we were both so shocked with the brush off we got I suppose we backed down. Under the circumstances, I'm not entirely sure I want to try harder to proffer the olive branch. Can you imagine how that conversation would go???
Will ring ss in the morning on my break and ill keep ya'll posted xx

JazzieJeff - as an independent social worker I am appalled at the response you got from SSD. They should at the very least do a visit to check on this situation even if it turns out to be OK. I worked for a l.a. for 25 years and we always responded to such calls (unless it was clear that the call was malicious or about something trivial which did happen sometimes).

If they are not prepared to respond my advice is to ask whoever you speak to (should be a duty officer) if they are going to respond by checking the family out. In fairness he/she may not be able to respond as it may not be their decision, and they do not of course have to give you any info on what has happened to your referral as this is confidential. I think you would be withing your rights however to ask if you could be assured that a visit willbe carried out, explaining that you understand all info on the fmaily will be confidential. You must also stress that you wish your referral to be anonymous, though I have to warn you that sometimes neighbours guess who is the referrer. The SS would almost certainly check out with the school first to see if there are any concerns and if there aren't they may decide to take no further action.

If you are really worried and believe that SSD are not taking your concerns seriously I suggest you tell them that you are contacting your local councillor (and do so if necessary)as SSD usually jump if contactd with a complaint by a councillor. Also all SSDs have a complaints procedure and you could ask for a copy and make complaint through the proper channels.

I think one of the difficulties here though is that SSD do not have to tell you whether they are taking any action as that too is confidential but at the very least should demonstrate that they are taking your referral seriously and in my view should advise you in they intend to visit.

Hope this helps. NSPCC not really any good as they only pass the referral to SSD as they have no statutory responsibility to investigate such concerns. In fact they don't have any statutory responsibilities at all, as they are a voluntary organisation.

Jazzie, stick to your initial instincts. this doesnt sound good.
I would be concerned too.
Keep us posted.

I would be a bit concerned, give them a call.