Help!! I think my neighbours children are in danger

[Jjhx]

I need some advice and wasn’t sure where else to ask! A neighbour close to me has two young twin girls maybe aged 6 or 7, most nights they scream at the top of their voices, like a really terrifying scream, you know when a scream isn’t normal. I’ve anonymously reported it to the police before and not much happened. It has happening right now at 3.40am, it is so loud it wakes me up and I can hear it with my windows closed!! What more can I do, please help!!!

Do you know which school they go to? Maybe you could contact the school...

This OP won’t be back

You actually have a legal obligation to report an suspected safe guarding issues where children are involved. Just report it.

My children scream very loudly at night/ during the day they are autistic. Not sure our neighbours would know they are autistic from seeing them out and about etc.

If they have repeated absences from school, it’s likely they are already in social services radar. You should report the screaming, noting kids are quite capable of screaming without being abused.

Call the police - welfare check, safeguarding concerns, don't go to the house alone - not safe - leave it to the police

Honestly some kids can wake up in the night with night terrors and as a parent having kids over, screams can sound worse than they are. If you’ve seen them out and about and they look clean, well fed, unbruised and happy, I wouldn’t worry. They could also be fighting sleep.

What happened OP? Did you ring the police?

Yes, I was thinking exactly the same. The unkempt, not going to school very often and timings of the screaming would also be suggestive of that.

Report them anyway because you don’t know any reason not to do so.

For what it’s worth, I understand that abused children are often more likely to be quieter.

Do you ever hear the parents screaming or shouting at them? Or do you just hear the kids? I would stay anonymous for this but go with your gut if you are wrong then fine if you’re not you are trying to help them?

Report to Police and Social Services.

If you are truly concerned that children are in danger call social services. Also speak to your GP. If they are neighbours, they are probably registered at the same practice.

A few years ago my neighbour was continually shouting and screaming at her ds. It was horrendous. Several times a day my DD and me would hear it. It was summer and we couldn’t even sit outside without hearing it. It didn’t sound as if she was hitting him just the terrible screaming and shouting and him crying.
I agonised for weeks until in the end I decided that if anything happened to him I’d never forgive myself. I was a support worker at a school at that time and the number for any safeguarding issues was displayed in a few places around the school.
So I plucked up the courage to ring them anonymously, explaining about everything.
They asked if I thought he was being physically abused and I said I didn’t think he was but I couldn’t be 100 percent sure that he wasn’t.
I never heard from them but I assume they gave them a visit because it calmed down a lot afterwards.
I never told her it was me but she must have known it was me since I was her only neighbour. We weren’t particularly close at the time.
She lived at the end of our row of four link terraced houses.
A while later he was diagnosed as having adhd and possible autism. Anyway it turns out that ss gave her the help she needed.
He’s 12 now and at comp/high school and she still shouts sometimes but not as bad as before.
We can hear him stomping around the house banging the walls and slamming doors and swearing at her while she pleads with him to keep it down as the neighbours can hear, obviously meaning us.
I feel really sorry for her and when we chat as we do now, over the wall I tell her not to worry about us hearing him.
I don’t want to stress her out more than she already is.
The point is op, make that call to ss as they’ll check it out and probably get them the help and support they need. Only good can come from it as either way you may stop something really bad from happening or they’ll have much needed help.

The police may have visited and found no problem. Do you know if the children gave special needs? My daughter used to get night terrors and wake up screaming. She had no idea in the morning and no recollection of it, but it was awful for me to listen to and be awoken with. Can you talk with her in a friendly manner , or do you see other things that seem the girls are in danger.

It could be night terrors. One of my children had these at around 6/7 years old

Yes one of my children went through a period of having night terrors and no matter what you try to do you can’t calm them down when they are having them and they would hysterically cream/cry then just suddenly stop, go back to sleep and have zero recollection of them the next day

It could be completely innocent, but report it to social services (the other things you've mentioned should also be reported). If you know their names and which school they go to, report it to the school too - they have a duty to log it and to investigate/report if necessary.

🙄🙄 <<sigh sigh>> another one who spouts untrue rubbish.
Professionals have a legal duty - not random people in the street.

That’s genuinely terrifying.

Indeed, terrifying

thankfully through… I think we can be reassured that @nosleepforme wasnt being serious when saying they’d had safeguarding training!

Oh sorry didn’t realise a zombie !