s/o Have you ever called law enforcement re unsupervised children?

[msjones]

I'm amazed at the apparently popular notion of calling police on misbehaving, unsupervised, mildly destructive, obnoxious neighborhood children.

 

Have you ever actually done it?

 

Did you have good results?

 

 

 

(Note: I don't mean physically aggressive or threatening older kids who are clearly and deliberately vandalizing and breaking the law -- I mean little kids, like those mentioned in the earlier thread...)

[Arcadia]

I have not. I had called mall security for lost crying kids. My neighbors had called police on "wandering" unfamiliar young kids that were on their property and the kids did not say where their parents were. The neighborhood police just swing by and escorted the kids home. No bad results.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I have not had the "pleasure" of having neighborhood children trespass, or harm my property (and pond equipment is not cheap!). If I had, I would call the police. I have had kids be mean and rude while playing but that was easily handled by talking to them.

 

I did call the police when kids were climbing the unfenced electrical tower in a nearby greenspace. The police responded and the kids were fortunate not to have been electrocuted. The city utility has since fenced the electrical tower.

[fairfarmhand]

I did when neighborhood teens were riding four-wheelers through our neighbor's tobacco field!

 

They came out, found the kids and talked to them.

 

But I doubt the damage that these teens did would be categorized as "mildly destructive." They probably did several thousands in damage.

[happyhomemaker]

I have had to break up a few fights and shoo some kids off of my porch roof, but nothing has happened that I would consider calling the police over. If serious property damage were being done, I would call. I don't think I would call about kids just being unsupervised, unless they were really young.

[Joshin]

As I stated in the other thread, yes I have. This was a case where the children where stealing, had not responded to warnings to stop, and the parents were nowhere to be found. The outcome was the police deferred to CPS because of other circumstances I was not aware of at the time of my call.

 

Young kids playing outside with minimal supervision does not bother me in most cases, as long as the kids are aware of general outside of rules -- you don't climb fences to get into others' yards uninvited, you don't destroy property, you don't play in the street, etc. When children are unwilling or unable to respect these basic rules and the parents are unresponsive, then I have and will call the police not just to protect the child, but to protect myself if something bad does happen.

[Anne in CA]

I did not have to because other neighbors did. The effort was unsuccessful. The unsupervised child is in jail now. No amount of having the child returned home by the police worked, the parents moved to the country to avoid losing custody, but the unsupervised child is now in juvenile detention. As soon as the unsupervised child was old enough that his disrespectful actions were considered criminal he was removed from his parents custody to that of jail. It was very sad, but his mother was DETERMINED to to watch him at all.

[Murphy101]

Yes. Twice. And neither time it was bc they were just playing innocently.

 

Children under age 6 or 7 acting in a behavior that is either dangerous to them or property of others AND whose parents have opted to not watch their own kid

+ Experience that often those same parents go sue happy or otherwise nuts if other people do their parenting for them

= cops are called to make sure child/property is safe and to deal with parents who don't parent their kid themselves.

 

Wrt to that other thread. I have no problem telling the parents first. But after that I'm not going to pester them to do right by their kid.

[FaithManor]

Yes, and it was on an Amish family, as bizarre as that sounds.

 

We have an Amish family four miles north of here that has an 18 month oldish (not certain of the exact age) little boy who began getting out into the road unsupervised. I had stopped my vehicle three times this past autumn to remove him from the road. The mother was inside her home and never new he was gone. The child was literally sitting in the road with a toy and playing. This is a VERY busy road with every manner of agricultural vehicle, plus beet trucks, and general traffic going past. The posted speed limit is 55 mph. If the driver doesn't see the child right away, the kid doesn't stand a chance.

 

Now, I've raised four kids and I know how fast they can disappear, so the first couple of times, I was a. thankful that I could see the child in time, b. park my car sideways across the road to block traffic, and c. get him and carry him to his mother without trouble. But, the third time, since well...hey lady, you do know now that the little monkey is getting out regularly...I asked her about putting a lock on the door that was high enough up he couldn't reach it. Her response was that locking doors was against their faith (okay, didn't know that but maybe they have a bishop that has preached against it - things can different some from one Amish community to another), and if he was hit by a car, then it was God's will. :huh:

 

I stated that while I appreciate the freedom to exercise one's religion freely in this country, that one's right to a specific belief only extends to one's self and not to others. So, she should consider that her child's right to safety is also just as important as her religious belief. She did not entertain this notion. Sigh....

 

Thus the report.

 

I do not know what was done. I do know that my report was taken and an officer headed down the road to their home to talk to them. Beyond that, I'm not certain. I did see one of the neighbors in the grocery store a week later and she said she was forever retrieving that child from the road, the ditch, the field, you name it....apparently this young mother was unwilling to provide appropriate supervision.

 

Faith

[Spy Car]

I'm coming around to a new way of thinking.

 

My modest proposal is that anytime we see school-aged children out playing unsupervised during school hours that we immediately call both the police and CPS to investigate.

 

How's that? :D

 

Bill

 

[Murphy101]

It's BS bill. And you know it.

 

Not one example given as been about kids "just out playing unsupervised".

 

It's about kids getting into potentially dangerous situations and or damaging property and their parents not dealing with their own kids.

 

So yeah.

 

If they're going to leave their kids for the village to raise, then they can quit whining when village authorities are called.

[AdventureMoms]

It's BS bill. And you know it.

 

Not one example given as been about kids "just out playing unsupervised".

 

It's about kids getting into potentially dangerous situations and or damaging property and their parents not dealing with their own kids.

 

So yeah.

 

If they're going to leave their kids for the village to raise, then they can quit whining when village authorities are called.

 

Plus, neither thread has referenced school aged children. This thread gives no age, and the previous one involved at least one, likely two preschoolers.

[Χά�ων]

In general I am a live and let live kid of person. Until the kids started breaking into the garage and stealing from us and harrassing the little kids (5-7) on our short dead end street. The kids were from another street and had been run off from every other area in the neighborhood and one family of kids were under strict instructions to come inside the second they came out. I figured the mom might have been over reacting so I allowed the kids to play. Lasted about a week. None of us could get the kids to behave, tried talking to the mom but mom was all "your are racist because my son is black and you are white." Race had nothing to do with it, more along the lines of the kids were out of control. The brothers were 8, 10, 12 and 16. I dealt with the younger 3 directly. When the 16 year old was walking in the middle of the road trying to be big and bad and trying to scare drivers (lounging at the drivers door like he was going o highjack the car and refusing to get out of the way) I just called the cops. Really, 16 year old can be stupid, but that was way out of line and it was not a one time deal it happened daily for months.

 

Thankfully we moved a few months later.

[JudoMom]

I'm coming around to a new way of thinking.

 

My modest proposal is that anytime we see school-aged children out playing unsupervised during school hours that we immediately call both the police and CPS to investigate.

 

How's that? :D

 

Bill

 

 

You know what your problem is Bill? You're too much of an optimist. You're thinking that suddenly a parent is going to buck up and start parenting, like parents did back in the "Golden Age".

[AdventureMoms]

Fortunately I haven't needed to, but if the child(ren) were under 7 or so, causing property damage, getting into dangerous situations, and I couldn't get ahold of their parents after a reasonable amount of trying, yes, I'd involve the police.

[ErinE]

My neighbor has and I fully supported her. Two non-neighborhood kids were riding their four-wheelers through the neighborhood green space. No motorized vehicles are allowed on the commons. They had trespassed several times, were doing damage to the trails, and were a liability risk. Since they weren't from the neighborhood, we didn't know their parents. I was outside, phone in hand, when my neighbor yelled to me that she was on the phone with the cops. They came and took a statement. We never saw the kids again.

 

I have had neighbors talk to me when my children misbehaved around the neighborhood. I greatly appreciated their comments and there were a few occasions where my kids stood on a front porch, apologizing for whatever deed they did. My old neighborhood was rare in that most of the parents appreciated the neighbors watching the kids and warning them when they crossed the line. If my children had ever done what was described in the prior thread, they would have been the neighbor's special helpers (under parent supervision) for a long period of time and I would have paid for the damages. My kids, my responsibility.

[Parrothead]

To be honest I've not lived in a neighborhood with kids being destructive or toddlers being out unsupervised. I have noticed the skater boys down the road have moved to the big drug area to "skate board". But I figure that is their parent's problem

[Spy Car]

 

 

 

You know what your problem is Bill? You're too much of an optimist. You're thinking that suddenly a parent is going to buck up and start parenting, like parents did back in the "Golden Age".

 

You are probably right that I'm overly optimistic. I'm optimistic that I will remain that way, but sometimes dealing with the world makes me wonder.

 

Of all the problems I might be afflicted with being optimistic is one problem I don't mind having.

 

Bill

[GoVanGogh]

I have never called the cops or CPS on neighborhood kids, but I did go to the police station one time to ask advice about a neighborhood kid situation. (Kid was caught in the act of trying to drown another child in the neighborhood and openly admitted what he was doing.) Police said because it wasn't my child involved, I would have little influence on an investigation. In the end, I just decided to make sure that my child was never around this child. Thankfully, that family was evicted soon after.

 

We do have a lovely child living next door now, but she doesn't know or appreciate boundaries. I just make sure I teach my child well and step outside and talk to this child whenever needed.

Ex 1: She wanted to play hide and seek in the cul de sac, including the front and back yard of the neighborhood curmudgeon. I did tell the neighbor girl that this gentleman would not appreciate children hiding in the shrubs up by his house and that it was inappropriate to open the gate and go into his back yard (with a pool) without permission.

Ex 2: When we had an ice storm last winter, this neighborhood girl wanted to skate down the steep driveway of the neighborhood witch. I knew that lady would come outside and rip into the kids and, more than likely, call the police on them.

 

Well, now that I think about it, I have called the police - but that was on illegal teen activity so that is different than unsupervised children, right?

We have an old country road behind our subdivision and kids like to hang out back there. I don't mind it, so long as they behave, but I draw the line when they started the hay bales on fire and threw beer bottles over our fence.

[poppy]

I called the police once when I saw an middle-school-aged looking kid jump off his bike, run up to another kid and start punching him in the face, with another kid as backup to do more punching.

 

I have not called for kids in the neighborhood playing and I have never been remotely tempted, because, thankfully, most parents are pretty good at watching their kids and raising them to not be awful to neighbors or a hazard to themselves.

[HRAAB]

Yes, and it was on an Amish family, as bizarre as that sounds.

 

We have an Amish family four miles north of here that has an 18 month oldish (not certain of the exact age) little boy who began getting out into the road unsupervised. I had stopped my vehicle three times this past autumn to remove him from the road. The mother was inside her home and never new he was gone. The child was literally sitting in the road with a toy and playing. This is a VERY busy road with every manner of agricultural vehicle, plus beet trucks, and general traffic going past. The posted speed limit is 55 mph. If the driver doesn't see the child right away, the kid doesn't stand a chance.

 

Now, I've raised four kids and I know how fast they can disappear, so the first couple of times, I was a. thankful that I could see the child in time, b. park my car sideways across the road to block traffic, and c. get him and carry him to his mother without trouble. But, the third time, since well...hey lady, you do know now that the little monkey is getting out regularly...I asked her about putting a lock on the door that was high enough up he couldn't reach it. Her response was that locking doors was against their faith (okay, didn't know that but maybe they have a bishop that has preached against it - things can different some from one Amish community to another), and if he was hit by a car, then it was God's will. :huh:

 

I stated that while I appreciate the freedom to exercise one's religion freely in this country, that one's right to a specific belief only extends to one's self and not to others. So, she should consider that her child's right to safety is also just as important as her religious belief. She did not entertain this notion. Sigh....

 

Thus the report.

 

I do not know what was done. I do know that my report was taken and an officer headed down the road to their home to talk to them. Beyond that, I'm not certain. I did see one of the neighbors in the grocery store a week later and she said she was forever retrieving that child from the road, the ditch, the field, you name it....apparently this young mother was unwilling to provide appropriate supervision.

 

Faith

 

Everytime I relay one of these unbelievable, craziest thing I've ever heard stories to dh, he says, "Let me guess where you heard that - on the Well Trained Mind board." I think he's starting to doubt the well trained part.

[LucyStoner]

Once, but it was on the parents and not the kid who was maybe 5 or so. The mom had her boyfriend over and they wanted to be alone so they locked the girl outside, alone with no coat and no toys and no discernable supervision. What the &^%$@!???

 

It took me awhile to figure out what the hell was going on and it was getting dark out to boot. Call me a busybody if you must but IMO, parents don't get to lock their small children out of the house. It wasn't the first time CPS and the police had been there and I am sure it was not the last (this was years ago and we have moved twice since then).

[LucyStoner]

Yesterday some middle school aged boys seemed to be having some sort of Fight Club going on right outside my window. I listened for a bit, realized they were just grappling and getting scored and determined they all seemed to be happy and willing. I closed my window so I could listen to the news but I left them alone. Not too much later they all got called in for dinner. If it had been a real fight or someone was being picked on, I would have leaned out the window and admonished them to stop it and I would have been fine walking out there and stopping them if I had to. It wouldn't occur to me to call the cops unless it was something where an older child was wailing on someone younger or weaker. A bunch of 11 year olds playing around? Not a cop worthy event.

[*Lulu*]

Once, but it was on the parents and not the kid who was maybe 5 or so. The mom had her boyfriend over and they wanted to be alone so they locked the girl outside, alone with no coat and no toys and no discernable supervision. What the &^%$@!???

 

It took me awhile to figure out what the hell was going on and it was getting dark out to boot. Call me a busybody if you must but IMO, parents don't get to lock their small children out of the house. It wasn't the first time CPS and the police had been there and I am sure it was not the last (this was years ago and we have moved twice since then).

 

IMO, anytime you have to call the police about children that age it is always really for the parents. In that other thread the purpose of calling the police wouldn't be to have anything happen to the kids, but to have the parents get in the loop and keep tabs on thier children.

[ksr5377]

Yes, just last night actually! It was 11:45pm and all of the sudden there was screaming from the house across the street. Apparently someone was locked out and she was screaming at her parents to let them know. They were also outside and apparently decided they were taking a walk for some quiet time away from their 7 children? The daughter just kept screaming and screaming that she was locked out and the parents kept on walking down the street. I called mainly for the noise at that hour.

[mandymom]

I have never seen any 6 y.o and under kids roaming my neighborhood unsupervised. If I did see it, yes, I'd be on the phone to the police in a heartbeat. Either their parents are unaware of it happening or they just don't care. Either scenario needs to be addressed. Older kids, no. Little ones that legally can't even stay home by themselves...you bet.

[LibraryLover]

.

[Tita Gidge]

I haven't read that other thread, other than the hover snippet from the main page.

 

But nope, never. Pretty sure I wouldn't ever, but who knows.

 

Where I'm from, we just go out and handle it ourselves.

 

Where I live now that'd probably be frowned upon more, but ... eh, I'd still go address it myself.

 

I guess I'm thinking: me, adult; them, unsupervised kids. I got this B)

 

It helps that I was one of those once upon a time LOL.

[swellmomma]

Yes, back when I was a teen. There was 3 little kids next door, their mom would leave the 7 year old to babysit the baby(under 1 year) and the 4.5 yr old often, and the length of time started expanding. One day they were out there all day, no adult, dirty, outside in little more than undies in the cold, baby's diaper sagging, no food etc. I was their babysitter at times, and that day after I realized that their mom was not coming back after 4 hours went over and took care of them, got baby bathed and changed, the boys washed up and dressed, food into them. And after a total of 8 hours had my mom call the police to report it. Police came by about 30 minutes later, I was still watching them. Police stayed parked in their driveway for another 90 minutes before a CPS worker showed up and took the kids. The mom drove up hours later, and then zoomed out again. She had her kids again the next day but they up and moved out the next weekend.

 

I have also called in this town in regards to violent behaviour and vandalism. 99% of the time I try to talk to parents first, but what I have found in my town is the attitude of "my johnny is an angel and you are a liar" so they defend little johnny's actions usually with yelling and swearing and the next day little johnny is back causing more sh*t. There is a few families in particular that I finally had to call the cops repeatedly to make the nonsense stop. That said it wasn't for just being unsupervised, it was for the bullying they did while unsupervised. There was one mom that swore up and down she could not watch her son because she was a single mom blah blah blah until the cops told her they had advised me to sue her the next time her son did something to mine, funny how from that day on he has backed off and smartened up.

 

So for unsupervised young children only once over 20 years ago. For unsupervised older delinquents many many times.

[swellmomma]

Yes, and it was on an Amish family, as bizarre as that sounds.

 

We have an Amish family four miles north of here that has an 18 month oldish (not certain of the exact age) little boy who began getting out into the road unsupervised. I had stopped my vehicle three times this past autumn to remove him from the road. The mother was inside her home and never new he was gone. The child was literally sitting in the road with a toy and playing. This is a VERY busy road with every manner of agricultural vehicle, plus beet trucks, and general traffic going past. The posted speed limit is 55 mph. If the driver doesn't see the child right away, the kid doesn't stand a chance.

 

Now, I've raised four kids and I know how fast they can disappear, so the first couple of times, I was a. thankful that I could see the child in time, b. park my car sideways across the road to block traffic, and c. get him and carry him to his mother without trouble. But, the third time, since well...hey lady, you do know now that the little monkey is getting out regularly...I asked her about putting a lock on the door that was high enough up he couldn't reach it. Her response was that locking doors was against their faith (okay, didn't know that but maybe they have a bishop that has preached against it - things can different some from one Amish community to another), and if he was hit by a car, then it was God's will. :huh:

 

I stated that while I appreciate the freedom to exercise one's religion freely in this country, that one's right to a specific belief only extends to one's self and not to others. So, she should consider that her child's right to safety is also just as important as her religious belief. She did not entertain this notion. Sigh....

 

Thus the report.

 

I do not know what was done. I do know that my report was taken and an officer headed down the road to their home to talk to them. Beyond that, I'm not certain. I did see one of the neighbors in the grocery store a week later and she said she was forever retrieving that child from the road, the ditch, the field, you name it....apparently this young mother was unwilling to provide appropriate supervision.

 

Faith

 

 

Gosh I couldn't imagine not wanting to put the child's safety first. My oldest was (and still is) a runner. From 18 months on he would bolt out the door and take off. I had alarms installed, locks up high etc, he jumped out windows, nailed windows shut, he started taking off at night. started sleeping with him tied to me, he would manage to undo it and escape. got repeated UTI's because I would try and hold my bladder all day until he fell asleep just so I didn't have to take my eyes off of him. Started sleeping outside of his bedroom door which was locked and alarmed, because I was paranoid of what would happen if it was locked and windows nailed shut in an emergency so I slept in the hallway at the base of his door just in case, just to keep him safe. Yet I still had to call the cops often on myself really, because I wouldn't know where my young child was and couldn't find him and would be in a panic (mall security too for when he bolted). Thankfully the cops or some other good samaritan would find him and bring him home. It got to be so common that I wouldn't be in that blind panic anymore, and would remain calm while we searched etc. There was one woman cop that tore into me up one side and down the other for "allowing" him to roam freely. Oh I was mad, and likely came across as one of those moms who is okay with it because I flipped on her. She had no idea of the measures I was taking (and the dr's etc we were seeing for his issues) to try and prevent this and how fast it would happen. I could not imagine with saying if he was hit by a car it was God's will, or refusing to lock a door etc. At 16 perhaps, if they are constantly sneaking out etc, but at 18 months heck no. I am not a perfect parent, I would say fairly average, but I could never in a million years understand that kind of thinking.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

double post

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I have called CPS once. In a circumstance related to unsupervised children. That was not the sole concern, but it was one factor. We tried other solutions before deciding to call. It was the hardest thing to do, and I hope I never have to do that. I've seen the havvoc CPS can cause in families, so it wasn't a call I made lightly.

 

 

*ETA We also called the police once (different children) because kids were setting fires right outside our apartment building. But that was a immediate safety issue.

[magnificent_baby]

No, but if they were in imminent danger I would in a heartbeat.

 

I have called the police several times for children not properly restrained in vehicles though.

[nmoira]

Nope. An escape artist toddler used to live in the house behind us. Folks in the neighborhood would either just take her home or sit with her on their front porch until dad came (always within minutes). She never crossed the street.

[Snow]

I haven't. However I hope if my young children were out wandering around that someone would call...for that to happen, something would be wrong.

[lllll]

..

[Joker]

I've never seen very young kids out without supervision. The neighborhood kids do roam through our yard and have even pulled branches off our trees. I don't like it but I've never thought to call anyone about it. I just try to catch them for a chat. A neighbor girl was left to get herself to and from school at about 10 when mom had to start working at 5am. I didn't call anyone but just kept an eye on her to make sure she was ok.

 

I'm really annoyed when people don't double check to make sure that parents aren't around or supervising, though. I had a neighbor call CPS on me once because she thought I had left two toddlers at home alone. We had moved to a new place and only had one car (which she obviously didn't know). If she had just bothered to knock on my door, she would have found out I was home with them.

[Guest inoubliable]

I'm amazed at the apparently popular notion of calling police on misbehaving, unsupervised, mildly destructive, obnoxious neighborhood children.

 

Have you ever actually done it? Yes. The children were destructive and we were instructed by our landlord to call so that we wouldn't be liable for damages. We also were concerned about the kids hurting themselves.

 

Did you have good results? Not until months after calling. Our landlord contacted theirs after so many reports were filed. They were evicted. FWIW, they were incredibly destructive in their own rental, too. Their rental company had to haul out dump truck loads of trash and furniture that they left behind. Then they had a plumber come in, a drywall team, a carpet cleaning business, Merry Maids, and finally a painting company. I shudder to think of what it looked like inside. Bonus - they made the family living in the other side of that duplex clean up *their* crap, too.

 

 

 

(Note: I don't mean physically aggressive or threatening older kids who are clearly and deliberately vandalizing and breaking the law -- I mean little kids, like those mentioned in the earlier thread...)

 

[Joanne]

Yes. It wasn't a bad call, but if I had a do-over, I'd handle it differently.

 

The child in question was under 5 and unsupervised at a neighborhood park.

[I.Dup.]

No, I have not.

 

 

Yes, and it was on an Amish family, as bizarre as that sounds.

 

We have an Amish family four miles north of here that has an 18 month oldish (not certain of the exact age) little boy who began getting out into the road unsupervised. I had stopped my vehicle three times this past autumn to remove him from the road. The mother was inside her home and never new he was gone. The child was literally sitting in the road with a toy and playing. This is a VERY busy road with every manner of agricultural vehicle, plus beet trucks, and general traffic going past. The posted speed limit is 55 mph. If the driver doesn't see the child right away, the kid doesn't stand a chance.

 

Now, I've raised four kids and I know how fast they can disappear, so the first couple of times, I was a. thankful that I could see the child in time, b. park my car sideways across the road to block traffic, and c. get him and carry him to his mother without trouble. But, the third time, since well...hey lady, you do know now that the little monkey is getting out regularly...I asked her about putting a lock on the door that was high enough up he couldn't reach it. Her response was that locking doors was against their faith (okay, didn't know that but maybe they have a bishop that has preached against it - things can different some from one Amish community to another), and if he was hit by a car, then it was God's will. :huh:

 

I stated that while I appreciate the freedom to exercise one's religion freely in this country, that one's right to a specific belief only extends to one's self and not to others. So, she should consider that her child's right to safety is also just as important as her religious belief. She did not entertain this notion. Sigh....

 

Thus the report.

 

I do not know what was done. I do know that my report was taken and an officer headed down the road to their home to talk to them. Beyond that, I'm not certain. I did see one of the neighbors in the grocery store a week later and she said she was forever retrieving that child from the road, the ditch, the field, you name it....apparently this young mother was unwilling to provide appropriate supervision.

 

Faith

 

I think it was very kind of you to bring the baby back the first couple of times, and can definitely see the reason for calling the authorities in this case.

 

I think it's always best to give them a chance or two before resorting to calling the authorities.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Yes. Years ago we lived in a neighborhood with a school in it. One Sunday morning, I saw kids running around on the roof of the school, so I reported it.

[Mrs Mungo]

I have only called for illegal teen activity-setting fires and smoking pot on the playground-two different incidents, same kids. They eventually wound up face down, handcuffed on the concrete of the same playground due to someone else calling a different time.

 

I've never had to deal with completely unsupervised preschoolers or I would have called.

 

School aged kids are usually responsive on their own. I've never had one destroy my property.

[stripe]

No, but there were some destructive teens on my street last year. If I would have seen them in action, I would have called. They were, however, eventually apprehended. They were breaking windows and setting houses on fire.

 

Slightly naughty kids on my block listen to me when I admonish them. Ha ha. Some of them know I will come to their house and tell their mothers what they're up to!

[FaithManor]

Swellmomma,

 

Let me tell you, it.boggled.my.mind. But, we've seen that kind of thing around here occasionally. The local Amish community is VERY conservative for Amish as I understand it. We've had a child die of epileptic seizures because they did not believe in modern health care, a child die from a brain bleed when hit in the head with a baseball and the Amish mother was prevented from calling 911 on the non-Amish neighbor's phone...literally, another Amish man showed up and interferred The non-Amish neighbor felt he should not meddle in their religion and did not call. After the child became unresponsive a couple of hours later, the mother sneaked over and begged to use the phone and of course, it ended up being too late....sigh... and a couple of other children who died from not being taken to the hospital soon enough. What generally makes my blood boil is that, in all of these cases everyone looked the other direction because of religion. Personally, NO WAY. An adult's right to practice his or her faith does NOT trump a child's right to life. Period.

 

So I have a SERIOUS problem with this. Not only did I call the police that day, but I will do it again. I have no idea if they will force the issue or would even consider taking a child away from an Amish family, but I will do my part and make the call if I see it again. Now that said, despite these instances, it appears that most of the families take excellent care of their children. I've seen them in the dentist's office, buggies pulled up and parked in the hospital parking lot, etc. and the only case of true unsupervised, child in danger type behavior is the one I related. We have a large Amish community in this area and this was the only instance that I've personally witnessed of a mother deliberately putting her child in harm's way. Usually, it seems that the moms have their littles close at hand. The only other problem, which wasn't big by any stretch, was that a little girl got separated from her mom in the local grocery store, and when an employee asked her if she knew where her mother was, she couldn't answer. The children only know German until about the age of 9 or 10 around here and well, most of us regular folk do not speak German! But, her momma was there in an instant consoling her.

 

I'm not anti-Amish. But, there are apparently whackaloons that will not take responsibility for their kids and the mother of the little monkey that repeatedly got into the road is one of them. I supposed that maybe deep down she thought she would be displeasing God to buy a deadbolt at the hardware, but I really don't give a care at that point about her religion, and well, I'm not certain that was the real reason anyway - who knows? Attempt to keep the child safe or suffer the consequences is my motto. I just prefer her consequences are a run-in with the long arm of the law than burying her precious son.

 

Whackaloons are everywhere!

 

Faith

[annandatje]

No, I have not called police (or CPS) on unsupervised children.

[celticmom]

I have not had to call the police myself but I was involved in a situation where the police were eventually called. We lived in a neighborhood with a community pool. There was a somewhat nosy retired couple who lived one house away from the fenced pool. There was also a couple with a child that was about 3 or so living on the same cul-de-sac.

 

The retired couple saw a young child who resembled the child who lived nearby wandering near the locked gate of the pool trying to get in. They led the child to their front porch and called the parents. This is where things got more interesting because the 3 year old that lived nearby was in the kitchen with her father.

 

Next step is to try to ask the child that was found near the pool what her name or parent's name was and where she lived. The child was almost completely nonverbal (at that point I did not have a child so this did not seem unusual to me looking back this child definitely had delays) and wearing a diaper. The older couple managed to keep the child occupied while several other neighbors including me walked around the neighborhood looking for a parent frantically searching for a child. We found no one.

 

Eventually the police were called and about the same time the child's father turned up to claim her. He had just gotten home from work and the child's mother was asleep and the child was gone. He was very happy that his child was safe.

[KungFuPanda]

I would if I knew that preschoolers were routinely left unsupervised. It's a wonder the supervised ones make it to adulthood! A group of tiny kids will FIND trouble and nobody should be neglecting them. No, I wouldn't call if the mother felt it was OK to run to the store while they napped. I wouldn't make that choice, but I wouldn't intervene.

 

I would confront school-aged kids, then their parents if they repeated the behavior. Finally, if they were menacing or destructive with no signs of stopping I would call the cops. This is all hypothetical though. People in my neighborhood seem to be parenting their children and turning out polite, well-behaved citizens.

 

Strangely enough, I DID see three babies walking up the middle of the road unsupervised last week! They looked to be 2, 2 1/2, and 3. They were tiny and I didn't know them. I walked towards them and they turned and walked the other way like geese :-) I caught up to them, and the littlest one took my hand. A man at the end of the cul-de-sac was mowing and saw us coming. He shut off his mower and sprinted towards us. The family is new, so I didn't know them. The dad attempted to mow while the kids were napping and they woke up and escaped out the back door. He couldn't hear over the motor and they just decided to walk off. Now, they only managed to get about 6 houses away, but I don't know how far they would've walked or how they would've negotiated the road at the end of our street. They certainly weren't bothering to use the sidewalk and were about to walk into a curve where incoming cars might not see them soon enough to avoid disaster.

[Luanne]

When I was in high school we had some neighbors who had two little girls ages 2 and 4. They were constantly roaming the neighborhood. All the older kids/teens kept an eye on them to make sure nothing happened to them. I don't think anyone even thought of calling someone on them, but we probably should have. It is a wonder if they made it to adulthood with those kinds of people as parents.

[Guest annemtg]

I just called the police after waiting and dealing with their nonsence after two years! These children in my neighborhood are currently 11 and 12 years old. There are two main trouble-makers, the 12 year old girl, and an 11 year old boy. It all started when they were throwing rocks in my driveway and my mother saw them and told them to stop. They didn't think they were doing anything wrong, one of the mother's came out of her house, and started yelling at my mom. (My mother is 80.) Ever since then they don't have any boundaries, they yell at my mom, yelling "old lady", run through my yard yelling, screaming, and cursing, making obsene gesures, not to mention weaving in and out of traffic on the roads on their scooters. I would love to get a fence, but the surveying and actual fence is going to cost thousands of dollars. That still won't help what goes on in the front yards anyway, and I can still hear the yelling and cursing whevever they're out. I had it on Saturday when I looked out my window to see what the yellling was about. The girl saw me looking out the window and started yelling and screaming at me! I called the police, but of course by the time they got here the neighbohood was quiet. They took down all my information, looked at the 2 years worth of dates I wrote down when they yelled at my mom, started making a fort on my property underneath bushes, making gestures at me, etc. They said I should have called before, but I didn't want to be the "bad" neighbor. Nothing was done, but I have so had it being a prisoner in my home and worrying about my mom all the time, I will not hesitate to call again. I've lost sleep over this and don't know what to do anymore. It's terrible when you pray for rain so the kids will just stay inside. They are going to be bored out of their minds this summer, and summer's just started!!

[Melissa in Australia]

_{Yes, DH and I called the police on a car that had a sleeping baby left in it. It was a warm day( not supper hot, around 27 oC). we looked for the mother in 2 largish shops asking them to make announcements on their PA, both shops declined saying it wasn't their job, we then asked people in the car park, and at the checkouts of the shops. A full 20 minutes later we rang the police. The mother turned up after the police arrived and took our statements.}