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Original poster

Police came to our house to do a welfare check on the children - advice sought

87 replies

BusyFrizzyLizzie · 12/12/2025 11:40

This morning two police appeared at our front door at 8:00 saying they had had an anonymous report that we had been locking our children out in the garden and leaving them to scream for hours.

To be clear, this is entirely untrue. Never happened. I don't even remember when the children were last in the garden, given the recent cold and wet.

They asked if they could come in and take a look around. I was very shocked, and had nothing to hide, so readily agreed. The kids were in their uniforms having breakfast. Both very small (KS1).

The police looked about for 30 seconds and then said that they'd seen enough and were happy to leave. I asked if I should expect any further follow up from social services and they said no. They suggested it could have been a malicious report (I'm not sure that makes me feel better at all!). I volunteered mine and my children's ages and names, as it seems that it's for the best that they do any investigations they wish and find nothing untoward.

They were very apologetic as they left, and I fully understand their position. I would rather that spurious or malicious reports be investigated than children who are being abused go unidentified. However, I'm left pretty shaken by events.

Can anyone tell me if there are likely to be next steps, and if so what those might be? And is there anything pre-emptive I should be doing? Of course my eldest was thrilled that the police visited and was very excited about telling teachers and friends, so it will be all over the class by this evening 🙈... should I contact the school so that they're aware?

All very odd and I hope it's a one-off, but also don't want to sleepwalk into a bigger problems.

Thanks!

OP posts:
Carrotsandgrapes · 12/12/2025 13:43

Do you have neighbours who have complained about (or might be affected by) noise from your kids before? Eg: when they're playing in the garden. That would be my first guess.

If not, it could just be that someone has heard something in the area, knew you had kids, and mistakenly thought it was coming from your house.

mellicauli · 12/12/2025 13:47

Sometimes the foxes in our garden sound like screaming children. Maybe someone really thought it was children? December and January is mating season for foxes.

Orangemintcream · 12/12/2025 14:06

Re the dementia theory - a friends neighbour made up some bonkers allegations about her once and involved the police. Not just malicious but downright odd. We think she (an older lady although don’t know her exact act) was experiencing some sort of hallucinations too.

On the other hand once when I was a student the police banged on our door in the middle of the night and asked for me by my first name.

I came out in my pjs in a panic thinking they were there to tell me someone had died - and they took one look at me and said “Not you - wrong house” and left. Presumably looking for someone who looked nothing like me but had the same first name. Shit me up properly that did.

I was a bit gobsmacked they didn’t apologise but I don’t know how serious the matter was and I was pretty relieved to know all was well.

So they do make mistakes on occasion.

Sidebeforeself · 12/12/2025 14:12

When you say you are surprised how hard you are finding it to shrug the incident off - I’m not. You’ve had a jarring reminder that sadly so many kids are not safe in their own homes.Im really glad the police took it seriously at first but also glad they quickly assessed the truth.

TheGander · 12/12/2025 14:22

How upsetting. Something similar happened to my father. A friend and neighbour went missing. Someone must have said he was her closest friend locally and the police turned up wanting to search his house. They even went in the loft. Dad was quite incensed. In the event we later realised it was the onset of dementia for our friend. She’d driven to Dover and boarded a ferry for France where she was later found.

ADHDdiagnosis · 12/12/2025 14:29

I would worry that the police had the wrong address and that there may be children in trouble nearby. I’d have to get them to tell me all the information that they had about you.
and I’d be out in the garden listening out.

other alternative is someone bored or unwell who believes this is true about you

twoshedsjackson · 12/12/2025 14:45

I agree with other posters about the address; I recently had a succession of care workers trying to attend a housebound invalid, who actually quoted the address to me. It was a nearby road with a postcode with one incorrect letter, and I was able to steer them in the right direction. My main concern was for the poor chap waiting for them, who actually needed their services!
Back in the days of paper bills, I did get one letter which shook me rigid. My address, right house number, but addressed to a street with the same name on a nearby industrial estate (eg Name Street when my house is Samename Road) So I, domestic resident, got the electricity bill for a small factory. I always thought "seeing stars" was a figure of speech.....
But seriously, I sympathise with the unpleasant shock which you received; keep school in the loop, and maybe you'll solve this unsettling mystery.

MaloryJones · 12/12/2025 14:47

I had similar happen once OP
Nothing came of it as nothing wrong had or was being done .
Some spiteful "neighbour" probably made it up , as I suspect happened in your case .

BlibBlabBlob · 12/12/2025 16:46

Totally understand why you're shaken up. You know your kids are fine and not neglected in any way, the police and social services can obviously see that. But it's horrible knowing that somebody potentially has it in for you and is trying to make trouble for you. In this instance, it could genuinely be an error (wrong house, somebody with dementia) and you can hopefully put it out of your mind.

In our case sadly it wasn't an error, somebody who thought they knew us well put in a malicious referral to social services and we've never fully moved past it. Although we have our suspicions about who made the call, we'll never get confirmation either way and it leaves you not quite daring to trust anyone going forward. This has been way worse than getting a call from social services to say we'd been reported.

(They immediately marked it up as malicious and closed the case, BTW - didn't even want to visit.)

Giggorata · 12/12/2025 17:00

This happened to us decades ago.
Police came round to our flat when we were cooking dinner and the DC were playing in the sitting room, watched over by my sister who was staying, along with her partner.
They stood about for a bit, and I showed them the DC, their bedroom, which was next door and they then went off, saying there'd be no further action.

I too suspect neighbours, we were quite hippyish at the time and they maybe thought we were a HMO, or a drug den, or something.
The DC were ecstatic that a real live policeman had been round.

NoisyViewer · 13/12/2025 20:01

wtf. I’m angry on your behalf. There is one thing to upset you but potentially uproot your children’s security is beyond the pale. I hope you find who’s done it & when you do I suggest you report them for harassment. Disgusting people

Followthattaxi · 13/12/2025 21:29

We were once woken at 3am by police banging on the door. They said someone had called and given oir address and said there'd been a break in and there was someone in the house. There was only my DH and I (and the dog who was going berserk as she hated strangers in the house). They did insist having a quick look around but we're in and out in 5 minutes.

MaryMaggot · 13/12/2025 22:28

FancyCatSlave · 12/12/2025 12:05

I know I’ll get accused of ageism by saying this but do you have anyone nearby that could have any form of dementia type illness that might have called them? I say this because a relative of mine had lewy body dementia which came with very convincing hallucinations and he called the police a few times about people screaming in his garden.

I was also thinking maybe someone psychotic.

JJWT · 13/12/2025 22:37

You won't need to tell school, they will be informed anyway. Try not to worry. Do you have any weirdos/ disputes in your extended family or "friends", or a troublesome ex?

JJWT · 13/12/2025 22:37

You won't need to tell school, they will be informed anyway. Try not to worry. Do you have any weirdos/ disputes in your extended family or "friends", or a troublesome ex?

Bubbles332 · 13/12/2025 22:53

Sorry you’re going through this. Just let the DSL at your kids’ school know in case they’ve had a malicious report as well.

Bubbles332 · 13/12/2025 22:55

Oh sorry just seen I’ve contradicted a lot of other people on here. To be clear I think the school will have been told already but it might have been a cursory ‘welfare check done all fine‘ kind of thing, not necessarily the full details of it being malicious etc.

RasiedByOwls · 13/12/2025 23:04

A friend had a minor dispute with a neighbour and then made a malicious call like this (it was a worse accusation without going into details), it ended up involving social workers and was incredibly stressful..when they found out who had made it they couldn’t believe they’d done it. It was literally over nothing.

exaltedwombat · 13/12/2025 23:04

Someone made a report. Reason, irrelevant. Would you rather something involving child welfare WASN’T followed up? No, of course not!

Yes, it’s unsettling. But the alternative is MUCH worse.

Bottlesofrumonthewall · 13/12/2025 23:05

It sounds like it was a mistake

RasiedByOwls · 13/12/2025 23:14

RasiedByOwls · 13/12/2025 23:04

A friend had a minor dispute with a neighbour and then made a malicious call like this (it was a worse accusation without going into details), it ended up involving social workers and was incredibly stressful..when they found out who had made it they couldn’t believe they’d done it. It was literally over nothing.

This meant to say ‘and the neighbour made a malicious…’

noodlebugz · 14/12/2025 08:17

Do the roads for your terrace houses run: park street, park avenue, park close, park road etc?
When I lived in one they did - one day - early in the morning a social worker and some police came to take my children off me (before I’d had any) - the house they were meant to be going to was perpendicular to mine so I knew where they were going to. She was mortified and it seemed a bit of a data protection breech.
If the road names are like that, I’d say the likelihood of a mistake is much increased! Either recording the address incorrectly or just being a road over in some way!

Hmm1234 · 14/12/2025 08:49

BusyFrizzyLizzie · 12/12/2025 11:40

This morning two police appeared at our front door at 8:00 saying they had had an anonymous report that we had been locking our children out in the garden and leaving them to scream for hours.

To be clear, this is entirely untrue. Never happened. I don't even remember when the children were last in the garden, given the recent cold and wet.

They asked if they could come in and take a look around. I was very shocked, and had nothing to hide, so readily agreed. The kids were in their uniforms having breakfast. Both very small (KS1).

The police looked about for 30 seconds and then said that they'd seen enough and were happy to leave. I asked if I should expect any further follow up from social services and they said no. They suggested it could have been a malicious report (I'm not sure that makes me feel better at all!). I volunteered mine and my children's ages and names, as it seems that it's for the best that they do any investigations they wish and find nothing untoward.

They were very apologetic as they left, and I fully understand their position. I would rather that spurious or malicious reports be investigated than children who are being abused go unidentified. However, I'm left pretty shaken by events.

Can anyone tell me if there are likely to be next steps, and if so what those might be? And is there anything pre-emptive I should be doing? Of course my eldest was thrilled that the police visited and was very excited about telling teachers and friends, so it will be all over the class by this evening 🙈... should I contact the school so that they're aware?

All very odd and I hope it's a one-off, but also don't want to sleepwalk into a bigger problems.

Thanks!

It will most likely be a neighbour who’s done this maliciously. Have you had a fall out with someone recently

Wooky073 · 14/12/2025 11:10

you did the right think OP ! Whenever the authorities feel the need to do something it is best to engage with the process. A few thoughts come to mind:

  • Did they show you ID so you know they were definitely genuine PC's?
  • Is there an ex husband (or other troubling person in your lives) with simmering resentment who may have called in the concerns to cause you stress?
  • The police may have got the wrong address - it happens. Particularly as they were apologetic this is most likely the case

Honestly I would not worry about it at all. Tell the kids they had the wrong address so they dont worry either. Then forget about it.

KeepPumping · 14/12/2025 14:41

Followthattaxi · 13/12/2025 21:29

We were once woken at 3am by police banging on the door. They said someone had called and given oir address and said there'd been a break in and there was someone in the house. There was only my DH and I (and the dog who was going berserk as she hated strangers in the house). They did insist having a quick look around but we're in and out in 5 minutes.

"They did insist having a quick look around but we're in and out in 5 minutes."

Not sure they are allowed to do that if the householder is present?

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