WWYD - ?

[elmofan]

ds's friend is moving house tomorrow , his parents have gone to see how their new house is coming along & left their ds (10) playing outside & told my ds also (10) to mind him , that was at one o' clock today , i only found all this out at 4pm when i called my ds in for dinner , i then offered this child dinner but he is not allowed to eat in any one's house (he is a foreign child) it is now starting to get dark outside & cold , and he is out side with no coat, hungry but every time i invite him inside for food he says no thanks . two years ago his father asked me to mind him while he took his wie to work (30 mins drive away) & i ended up minding the child for 4 hours & it was 10pm when he knocked in to collect him with no explanation what so ever , in fact he did not even speak just smiled at me when i opened the door & yes he can speak very good English as dh has spoken to him before ,the boy says his house is locked up & he does not know his parents mobile phone numbers , not sure what to do now but my ds cant stay out there much longer , any advice please ?

OP - they didn't run it by you first though, so cant be them taking you for a mug. What if you had plans to go out tonight?

This is neglect, plain and simple. You have to call someone about this. If not tonight then Monday.

There are panthers, lions, cheetas, pumas... no tigers

Tigers are mainly found in china and India )

oh dear, dp is half african! i'm not gonna mention this i don't think

but i know he had a very different upbringing than me (he was bought up in the carribean) and a lot of different things were expected of him

OMG I was reading this expecting it to have happened earlier on today, didnt realise it is happening now!

I would be having serious words with the parents.

thanks goddess. I think jumping on the SS option is not the right move. Call the NSPCC. You can talk to the parents tonight and figure out what you want to do next tomorrow.

I hate dealing with ss, but in this case I would be calling the police.

Poor kid - my 10yo is asleep!

Crap... posted under my sisters login!
whoops

i just owned up to dp and he thought there were tigers in africa too!

he also told me to ask if anyone knew why!

anyway, he also mentioned that wherever you are in the world, the community needs to care for and look after the children in it, so if this means calling someone maybe the school? then think you should do it

yes call the school like I said before, PSA, FALW, EAL support advisor are who you need to ask for

I think a call to NSPCC or similar to ask for advice is the right move. Hope the confrontation wasn't too horrible though.

Fear of upsetting "cultural differences" is what led to Victoria Climbie's death. Phone the police.

Goddess: here

(I would also take issue with Pumas - not found in Africa & Panthers, although panthera purdus (sp?) is the generic name for Leopard, but most people mean black panther when they refer to panthers)

Poor kid, glad he came in anyway.

georgimama you are way off base here! Talk about shock tactics!

His parents have now been gone for 8 hours and it is dark and cold.

Stuff the cultural differences - this is a little boy at risk!

Tiger is an alternative name for leopard in many African stories, and the stories moved to the West Indies in the 18th century.
Anansi and Tiger for example.
Cultural differences? yes, but this is a different country and in order to avoid getting into trouble, the family need to be educated about the differences and what is acceptable.
Although I've come across indigenous children left to their own devices in the same way with less excuse.

How am I way off base? There is nothing "cultural" about abandoning a 10 year old child in the street. Neglect is neglect.

I don't think this is way off base at all Nine and a half hours with no supervision, no food and no coat is neglect. He is also required to supervise his younger siblings whilst his parents are at work, is neglect not only of this child but even more so for his siblings, how is a ten year old supposed to cope if a fire broke out for instance?

No I know that, I agree that it is very questionable and totally not in line with how we bring up kids here. I just think that dragging poor Victoria Climbie into this is somewhat sensationalist.
I respect your viewpoint however, and don't want to have a spat about it at all. We are coming from the same place .
I really hope the parents have a serious chat with OP and then we shall see the lay of the land.

I remember trying to get a parent to sign a permission slip for a free weekend in Wales for a child.
Mother wouldn't sign at first, because she resented the fact that she'd been engaged at 11, married at 13 and thought her daughter should be learning how to be a good wife not jaunting off on a holiday.
Cultural differences exist, especially with first generation immigrants.
The daughter got married at 16, but she's also a British citizen and her children's upbringing will differ from her own.

"Cultural differences" might exist, but differences that lead to the abuse of children don't need pandering to, they need breaking.

Also I think that mentioning VC is putting undue emotional pressure on the OP who has been nothing but a good Samaritan here.

Hear hear!!

thankyou justkeepswimming and goblinchild

Oh grow up. The OP asked for opinions and that's mine. "Undue emotional pressure." FFS.