child neglect?

Question

my neighbor has a 2 and1/2 yr old son ... he is really bad .. but for understandable reasons .. he doessnt have a cosistent schedule, disipline, love . or the care he needs ... i am at lost tho .. b/c i feel very bad for the little boy... his mom calls him a mother ****** and a ******* just names u shouldnt even call ur dog... he runs around with dirty diapers on , and he has been sick with a cold for the last two weeks and she hasnt taking him to the doctor or even giving him some kind of meds.... she lets him run out side with a shirt and a diaper on. no shoes on and its freezing weather.she feeds him pizza day in and day out .. and koolaid .. i am so heart broken over this .. i dont know what to do . i want to just take him and raise him like he deserves. and its sad in so many ways. me and my husband r trying to have a baby but have had no luck yet. but here is a women who has a child and is not even worthy of a dog ... what should i do? what can i do to save this little boy?

this is for jenn and ur lil crappy comment yes i do know what goes on over there , i go over there almost everyday or she comesover to my house , so therefore i didnt ask u for u crappy comments if i know . b/c yes i do know ... i asked a question referring to what should i do for this lil boy .. i have no reason to lie

Answer 1

Are there other family members around who might be able to step in and help this boy? Perhaps his mom is depressed and they can make sure she gets help.

For your own peace of mind, you need to call Child Protective Services, but before you do, document everything as best you can.

When you're talking with them, ask them what constitutes neglect/abuse so you can be on the lookout for things to document in the future.

Try to find out what information you need and gather it, but be prepared to go nowhere with this. Name calling, improper clothes, pizza at all meals may skirt the edge of abuse/neglect where you live.

Neglect is only one thing CPS has to investigate. They also have to investigate allegations of physical abuse like beatings & rapes, and child endangerment such as 4 year olds locked in an apartment all weekend alone. Unless your local CPS is very fortunate, they have limited resources and will have to allocate them the best way they can and that often means helping the kids in the most immediate physical danger first. Please keep this in mind when you call CPS as many CPS workers live in a constant state of anger and frustration over the conditions of the kids they see.

Please understand that as warm-hearted as you are and as much as you want to take this child into your home, you can't. Even if he was taken by CPS I doubt they would give you even temporary custody because you are his neighbor.

There are many children out there in need of foster care/adoption. You might want to look into helping one of them. Look at it this way, if this boy is taken from his home you will have opened a spot for him someplace else.

I sympathize with you. While writing a series of articles a few years ago I wanted to bring many at-risk kids home with me. I wanted to pull them away from parents that ignored them or treated them like dirt, but I couldn't.

All I could do was tell their stories, keep in touch with people who could help them and pray.

Just because you can't scoop him up and take him away doesn't mean you can't help him. If all you can do is treat him well when you see him, try to help his mom, offer to babysit and document/report abuse, then do that.

Don't devalue what you are doing because you feel it isn't enough. Showing him that someone values him and cares for him WILL make a difference for him. In the end knowing someone cares is sometimes the ONLY thing to make a difference in a child's life.