CM club: should i phone social services?

[dmo]

i know it always happens to me
and being a cm i cant bounce off anybody i am the key person the child protection officer of my setting.
anyway i have an 8yr old boy (quite grown up for his age) he lives with his mum and his uncle (uncle has problems has a mental age of 15yrs)
so the mum has a new boyfriend and has been with him 8 mths he lives in Kent (about 5 hrs drive away) mum goes down most weekends on her own to visit boyfriend and leaves her son with his uncle.
last weekend mum took son to kent and on monday she was really cross with him when she dropped him off because he had embrassed her (didnt ask what he had done)
anyway mum picked son up on monday night all smiles as she had just booked to go to america for 2 weeks in march with boyfriend without son.
she drops son off this morning and tells me uncle is picking son up from me tonight as she is going to france for the weekend with boyfriend.
this got me thinking as i know uncle works nights.
so i asked 8 yr old if uncle still worked at night and he said yes, so i said who looks after you at night and he said he stays at home alone (uncle works from 9pm till 6.30am) i asked what he does and he said he has to stay in bed.
now i know this is all hearsay from an 8 yr old boy but the way he told me its as if it happens alot.
do i take what a 8yr old tells me (after all uncle could have booked time off work, or they have a neighbour/friend come over to look after him)
i did try to talk to uncle when he picked the 8yr old up asking if he had booked time off work but he really is like a child (get more sence out of the 8yr old) so i didnt get very far

just tell me your veiws cant really talk to anybody about this

A long way from me.
It is still embarrassing that you are being let down in this way and this poor boy is at risk.

Am wondering if the uncle has a sw if he has a learning disability? You could try the LD team and voice your concerns as to if the uncle is competent at looking after the boy. If you also mention the concerns re the child then they are duty bound to contact child care who do seem to take notice if another social care team alert them.

I can't believe you are getting nowhere - if it is calpol it is paracetamol which should not be abused

dmo, how are things? Any luck? Have you called the police again tonight?

maybe the `knock out medicine is phenergan..is the child a bit dopey the next day? i would certainly keep up the calls .have you had chance to speak to the uncle to ask him who will look after child when mother goes away? will the child be with you when the mother is away?

mum not at Kent this weekend as she is packing her case for thursday
yes i will have boy while mum is away before and after school

Any update on this young fella?

mum set off to america on thurs
uncle has taken 2 weeks off work
school is now involved which is good

Fingers corssed things will improve.

headmaster at school called me in the other day for a chat about the boy
he was unimpressed about the attiduted of ss so has taken it out of my hands now and is dealing with it
he too has heard conversations between boy and friend about the situation

Have you asked to speak to team manager at Social Services dmo?
I can't believe that Social Services are ignoring this.

no i didnt but head is going through the school so it should get sorted
not bothered now how ss treated me aslong as it gets sorted

i didnt treat you any way!!..seriously tho i hope the poor lad gets help

At least someone is taking it seriously dmo. Good for you for sticking your neck out, hopefully with the school and your concerns something will get done.