Leaving a baby home alone...

[Babushka99]

I don't even leave my daughter for a second let alone go in the bedroom and shut the door while she is in the living room.

 

[rainbows_x]

Maybe someone could go round and knock on the door at around the time the mum would have gone to the school and see if anyone answers...if they do, great create an excuse, if not then it may be a regular thing and needs reporting (even if its not regular). ???

I agree with this!

 

[Leanne27]

It is not your job to investigate, if you have a concern about a baby POSSIBLY being left alone then contact SS. They can take it from there, maybe pop round and have a chat with the woman. If it is a simple explanation then all is well and no further action will be taken BUT it could be that a child is being left home alone. I would not take that risk and would definitely contact SS. Any worries that a child is being put at risk should be reported.

I certainly wouldn't say you had to be certain because as someone else said, how certain can you be about something like this?

 

[kerrie24]

It was me that said that,my friend is as certain as she could be,it seems very unlikely that theree was someone in the closed room who was meant to be watching the baby,and they didnt come out either.
What I meant by no harm done was that ss would,as you said,investigate but they wouldnt just go and take her kids off her or something.
It might just be that where the woman is from it is a normal thing to do,and ss would explain to her that isnt the case here

 

[lovingmommy]

Even if she isn't 100% sure it still doesn't hurt. SS will check, if the baby is being left alone then she potentially saved that babies life. If the baby isn't being left alone then no harm done and your friend can stop worrying!

 

[TwoMummies]

I'd have called the police there and then to be honest, I couldn't have forgiven myself if I walked away and later heard something terrible had happened.

I definately think it calls for a SS report though, too risky to ignore it.

 

[LoraLoo]

I completely, and uttery disagree with the comments 'you should be 100% sure the child was alone first'

I'm sure in cases like Baby P - people had suspicions, but they didnt act upon them, because they werent 100%. By the time you are 100% sure, often its too late.

You have a suspicion, thats enough, its SS job to investigate furtherl

 

[nikkip75]

I agree with Leanne27 above. Who cares if the woman gets upset that someone has contacted SS! Any possibility of a child being left in a house alone should be reported. Imagine how many kids have been injured or even killed because people have said but I didn't know all the details so didn't do anything about it!

Do what you feel is right OP. Maybe there was someone in the room maybe there wasn't but if I was looking after someone elses child I certainly would be in another room with the door shut.

 

[kerrie24]

Thankyou everyone,I will speak to my friend tomorrow morning at school as it will have to be her who makes the report I presume as she was in the house.It needs to be done otherwise I wont sleep thinking what if?

 

[Leanne27]

I completely, and uttery disagree with the comments 'you should be 100% sure the child was alone first'

I'm sure in cases like Baby P - people had suspicions, but they didnt act upon them, because they werent 100%. By the time you are 100% sure, often its too late.

You have a suspicion, thats enough, its SS job to investigate furtherl

Agree with this.

 

[LittleBoo]

3 weeks ago I'd say she should call SS. Now, not so much. Unless she's 100% certain, not a chance I'd report.

 

[Leanne27]

3 weeks ago I'd say she should call SS. Now, not so much. Unless she's 100% certain, not a chance I'd report.

In my opinion, if people only reported to SS when they were 100% certain there would probably be a lot more children being put at risk.

 

[LittleBoo]

3 weeks ago I'd say she should call SS. Now, not so much. Unless she's 100% certain, not a chance I'd report.

In my opinion, if people only reported to SS when they were 100% certain there would probably be a lot more children being put at risk.

If you knew what I was going through right now, you'd understand why I felt this way. All my trust in authority figures has gone.

 

[Courtcourt]

Ok thanks thats what I thought.
And if it was a mistake,nothing lost yeah?I wish I had been there,I would have asked her if she had done that.Im puzzled as to how anyone could think it was ok.

It's not too uncommon actually, I worked as a police dispatcher and had many calls like that over the years, often about women who are forced to work nights and have no family/childcare.

Holy crap you are kidding!!!!!! People would leave their babies and go to work? I live on a 3rd floor apartment and can't even bring myself to take down the trash until DH gets home, that is awful and makes me want to hug my pretty baby.

 

[Kimmy25]

I had an awful anti social neighbour..She called SS on me as my baby cried during the night for milk ..Anyway as it has been reported they had to investigate so I welcomed them in they saw he was fine and that was that. If you have nothing to hide it surely wouldnt bother you?

Id ring them x

 

[Leanne27]

Surely its better for thousands of parents to be questioned by SS and everything found to be ok rather than one child ignored and at risk?

 

[LoraLoo]

Surely its better for thousands of parents to be questioned by SS and everything found to be ok rather than one child ignored and at risk?

This is what i wanted to say but wasnt quite sure how to word it without offending

 

[mumoffive]

I think i would call ss tbh. I can totally appreciate that its not good if its wrong but i do agree it is not your friends job to investigate and like others have said, i wouldnt be able to sleep thinking what could be. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[aliss]

Ok thanks thats what I thought.
And if it was a mistake,nothing lost yeah?I wish I had been there,I would have asked her if she had done that.Im puzzled as to how anyone could think it was ok.

It's not too uncommon actually, I worked as a police dispatcher and had many calls like that over the years, often about women who are forced to work nights and have no family/childcare.

Holy crap you are kidding!!!!!! People would leave their babies and go to work? I live on a 3rd floor apartment and can't even bring myself to take down the trash until DH gets home, that is awful and makes me want to hug my pretty baby.

No, not kidding but it was never done out of malice, it was often single women who had to work nights (ie as night caregivers) and they couldn't get childcare. I'm sure it's been done for people to go partying etc. but most women who get caught for it seem to have done it out of necessity. A lot of them were immigrants who had no family/friends/services to turn to.

 

[special_kala]

I would call SS. Yes i imagine its horrible having them knocking on your door but if shes done nothing wrong then she can tell them that. If she has done she might just need some support/kick up the ass which SS can offer