What would you do? Child in potentialy bad situation...?

Question

Last night I was walking home after dark on a busy city street when I noticed a 4 year old boy crying, having a tantrum. I was pretty sure his mom was down the street at the bus stop - about 20 feet away but started to approach the boy to make sure he was with his mom. Before I could get to him he darted around the corner and went into the Salvation Army store. I caught up with him, and asked him where his mom was. Luckily the store manager recognized the little boy as the son of the woman who owned the salon up the street. I mentioned that I thought I had seen a woman who could be his mom waiting at the bus stop, and we all went out the door to look for her. When we found the mom and told her where her son went she was not phased at all. She couldn't have cared less that her son had disappeared for 2-3 minutes after dark on a busy street. I am thinking about calling child services to check out his situation, but don't know what the consequences might be. What would you do?

Answer 1

Go ahead and make the call. If the investigation proves she did nothing wrong, fine. If they look into it and find abuse is occuring, then you've potentially saved a child. Chances are they would not remove the child, but they would offer services to the family - in home help, parenting education, etc. to prevent these things from happening in the future.

Answer 2

Obviously she doesn't care about her child. I don't know any moms that would let their child out of their site during the day never mind at night on a busy street. She should be reported and if the child is taken away from her, maybe she will smarten up and step up to her responsibilities. God forbid that the child gets hit by a car in the dark on a busy street. My concern would be for the safety of the child, not how the mother would feel about it.

Answer 3

If I were in that situation, I'd feel really sad and worried for the boy too. I think I'd have to call it to someone's attention, but not sure that Child Protection Services would be my call. Maybe calling the police station that is local to the salon and just making a statement, so they are aware. People parent in different ways, and maybe this is just something that happens frequently...not saying it's the safest thing, but that could explain why the mother wasn't surprised.

Answer 4

You already know the answer, you need to call. It's not an easy call to make and we all sympathize with you. You need to call for all the obvious reasons (the boys welfare), but also for your welfare. You sound like a very caring person to go after a child to make sure they are OK. So for your own peace of mind you need to call. No one envies your situation, but it's not your fault selfish people are allowed to reproduce.

Answer 5

Yes, you should report her for child neglect. Any little child should have at least one adult who knows where they are and what they are doing at all times. It is not up to you to investigate only to report. If they find things are not right, do you really care about what happens to a bad parent when you are trying to save a child? I would'nt!
Tracylyn

Answer 6

Call the police or Child Services office in your town. If you don't, you may read about him in the newspaper later. You could save this child's life.

Answer 7

Make the call to child services, they will make a visit to the household to determine if there is neglect, filth,abuse etc.....
For the sake of that kid I would do it if I were in your place.

Answer 8

It cetainly sounds like the child is potentially being negelcted, but do you even know their names? Where they live? You can't really report it without this info.