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Spurgeons and Dad.Info doesn’t investigate reports of abuse or neglect. But below, you can find advice on who to contact if you have concerns about a child or young person.
Reporting a concern
It can be difficult to know what to do if you think a child is at risk. It’s important to remember that if you’ve spotted things that don’t seem right, others will have too. Speaking up can make sure that child gets help as soon as possible.
The sooner you contact your local children’s social care duty team, the quicker they can act. They’re available 24 hours a day, and can make an anonymous report if that feels safer. If a child is in immediate danger, please call the police straight away by dialling 999.
Report child abuse or neglect to your local council
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Hi Fellow members,
I'm looking for some advice on the best way to move forward on information I have just received,i will give a brief background and try and keep the message short but I feel knowing the whole story will be better for everyone who feels they could possibly help.
Ok, so I left my ex 2 years ago, I have one child with her and she had a child by a previous partner.(I bought him up from 6 months old and always treated him as my own. the boys will now be 8 and 7.
She very quickly got with someone else and moved him into the home and swiftly cut me off,no phone calls or visits,she also moved not long after.
I was emotionally distressed and I left the uk,initially only temporarily to pull myself back together but ended up still being here.
I spoke to her last may,(she had split with the new partner) and also spoke to the boys on two occasions,safe to say I was overjoyed, I didn't play ball with her demands and was swiftly cut off again,(relevant point-she told me she was getting kicked out of her flat). And heard nothing from her since.
About a week ago I was added on facebook by somebody, who sent me some photos,initially three.
pic 1 - very messy/dirty flat with 3 large dogs roaming free.
pic 2- lots of dog feces by the front door
pic 3- more dirty flat
she claims to be a relative of the landlord who had to get them evicted through courts etc but I don't see that it matters where I get the pictures? it is her flat as my old furniture is there and so are boys clothes etc so I 100% know that it is her flat.
I was obviously distressed and worried after seeing these disgusting images and now this person has sent me some more of the flat, all I can say is that it looks more like a squat than a family home, there was feces in a bedroom,digital scales and a small baggie looking like it previously contained some form of white powder.
now Alarm bells are ringing and I am beside myself with what to do.I have no contact number for her, don't know her address,her family will not respond to messages or email,i have tried in the past. According to the sender of the pics,social services were involved previously.
without this info can I contact social services? would they help?
any thoughts or info is appreciated
James
I shall be calling the CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE ADVICE AND ASSESSMENT TEAM today,and see where this leads to. just have to get myself ready for the call as I am nervous about how they will wish to proceed.
I am not in a court battle currently and will post the pics on here if people would like to see why I am concerned.
Hi there
I would assume that the landlord can give you the address of his place and if he had to get her evicted he may have some information about where they have gone, you could ask his relative to pass on any information to you that may help in this regard....with that information you can contact the local authority children's services, they may be able to trace her.
When you speak to them, ask them to log your call and put your concerns on file. Hopefully they will act on your concerns, make sure you tell them that the children are at risk and ask for an email address of the social worker so that you can forward copies of the photos to them.
If they cannot help then you could apply to the courts for a seek and find order.
Good luck
thanks for your reply mojo, i had forgotten about the seek and find order. if i file this at the same time as a c100 would it all be included in the 215 pound fee? i obviously would not like to pay it twice if i can only pay for it once.
i telephoned the local authority this evening,spoke to an out of hours social worker who informed me at the beginning of the call that the computers were down for maintenance and she would not be able to input the information straight away or check on the status of whether social services were already involved.
in the beginning she seemed pretty blasse but after taking my contact details and information about the mother and children and possible family members that could help track the children down,she asked me what my concerns were and upon hearing of animal feces and drug paraphanalia,she seemed to take more of an interest.
i asked her if there was a reference number or anything i could take to prove that i had made the call and she said no,however gave me her name and time of the call,not brilliant but something and she was in a predicament as like i said the computers were down.
i also asked her what will happen now and she said it will be passed to the daytime team who will input it into the system once it is back up and that i should hear from them. i have decided that if i do not hear anything by the end of the week, i shall call again and go from there, i will also make as many calls to them until this is investigated lol.
was a really difficult thing for me to do and i am in bits afterwards if i am honest,however the welfare of the children always comes first, will keep the thread updated if anyone else is interested for future reference,although i hope nobody else should ever have to witness photos like that. i will also post the pictures up if they are not considered offensive and i am allowed to do so by moderators of the forum.
We don't have the facility to upload photos, but in any case, don't publish them anywhere else - these photos could become evidence in court, and publishing them online might well cause you problems.
From my perspective, I've probably seen similar - ie the photos I took of my ex's house before I gained custody of my children.