What would you do if you saw a child been physically abused by their Dad in the park?

[Ladycoo1]

Took my 2 children to the park today and there was a family with mum and dad and 3 kids. Everything was fine then all of a sudden the dad was raging and shouting at his 8 year old daughter, mum was not stopping him. He dragged her by her leg along the grass and started to take her trousers down and shouting he was going to smack her. Mum intervened Dad eventually stopped but proceeded to shout at the daughter.. They went home. I feel terrible that I watched everything discretely and did not help her out. What would be the right thing to do in this situation? God knows what happens behind closed doors.

The thing is, realistically the police would do very little. Average response times for an emergency ate around 20 minutes depending on your area. For priority 1-4 hrs depending on your area. The chance of the family still being in the park after this time, a vague description and no evidence means it would likely not even be priority. Police are so stretched there sadly isn’t time to deal with things like this.

@BananaPop2020 given how quick she is to jump on other posters, I'm assuming she would be just as quick to jump on people committing real life injustices. I doubt she's one of those that's only ever 'the big I am' on the internet. Just my guess though 🤷‍♀️

@JoeCalFuckingZaghe that does not ever mean that it should go unreported.

@PeachGinMummy it’s painful isn’t it? She is just desperate to pick an argument and can’t accept that people might actually have the decency and backbone to take action about this horrible occurrence.

Whereabouts do you live OP? There is a very supportive local mums group on fb in my town. If I witnessed such an incident I would
post there and urge the mother to seek support. The group has been able to offer practical and emotional support to DV victims and people have been brave enough to share their stories there.

Buggy has wheels? Yes and it doesn’t matter if it had a Mclaren F1 engine there’s still risk.
The significance of a child in buggy is,
Small,young,immobile (strapped in buggy) easy to throw,push,stamp
The adult clearly has violence issues,and isn’t adverse to violence in public

I genuinely do not think the op could have done anything,she has to manage the risks. Consider her & her children safety.

Bystander intervention doesn’t always end well

@SentientAndCognisant none of that changes the fact that the question was 'what would you do'. Not 'what should I have done'. You don't need to persist with derailing the thread by attacking people's perfectly legitimate answers. OP wanted insight, not validation.

@BananaPop2020 you incorrectly stated call the Police. This would undoubtedly have prompted a Children’s Services referral and some form of help

⬆️⬆️ No. None of that will happen. In the absence of identifying family details there will be no such outcome . I’m not picking an argument I’m rightly disputing your statement. And the over confident incorrect use of undoubtedly

@SentientAndCognisant there is nothing incorrect about my statement. IF the Police had been called and IF they had then attended there would be a referral to CS. Of course it is far more challenging to predict what may or may not happen if they are contacted after the event.

And, if you really feel the need to comment on my “overconfident” use of language, I would really invite you to look any one of your own posts, where you have been abrasive, blunt and unhelpful.

@SentientAndCognisant

Buggy has wheels? Yes and it doesn’t matter if it had a Mclaren F1 engine there’s still risk. The significance of a child in buggy is, Small,young,immobile (strapped in buggy) easy to throw,push,stamp The adult clearly has violence issues,and isn’t adverse to violence in public

I genuinely do not think the op could have done anything,she has to manage the risks. Consider her & her children safety.

Bystander intervention doesn’t always end well

All the more reason to MOVE AWAY, then? And when you’re no longer in line of sight, call the police.

If I saw a child being abused in a public place I would call 999

Surely calling the police would only help if they could teleport to your location within seconds.

They could check CCTV and may see them going into a car. I personally couldn’t stand by and do nothing after watching a child being abused.

If I was watching that I'd like to hope I would intervene.

But truth be told it probably too risky and so calling 999 would be best.

Tell them you are witnessing an assault on progress. Tell them it's an adult on child.

OP like you I wouldn’t have intervened, because he sounds like an unpredictable man and you had your children with you. Do you see them often at the park? I would report the incident to social services with a description, date, time etc. Then if you see them again it happens again call the police.

X

I would have made notes of family, descriptions etc and what was said and report my concerns. In our county there is the multi agency safeguarding hub to get in touch with (MASH) for concerns about any child. I’ve always assumed this was a nationwide thing, that’s where I’d report.

There’s not enough info for MASH (multi-agency safeguarding hub) to proceed
Mash is a nationwide and the core comprise SW, Health, Police and education

MASH Referrals are screened and triaged, based on what op,is saying There is inadequate information
No adult or child name
No identifying details eg address
No other collateral
Where they from the borough or merely visiting the park from another borough?