Leaving teens 'home alone'!

meritaten

my DD was a very good kid - and had lots of common sense - I could have left her overnight and not worried she would burn the house down or throw a party. the boys however.............no way! not until they were in their twenties and even then I used to check up on them to make sure they weren't 'partying'.
leaving a 14 year old boy for weeks is asking for trouble.

marisco_2

I think it is irresponsible to leave a child as immature and irresponsible as this boy appears to be on his own. So far his behaviour hasn't caused a major problem. I question his ability to handle things if they did go wrong. If this happens on a regular basis couldn't this also have an affect on the house insurance remaining valid?

clayton16749

fairy_lights wrote: »

When I was that age my parents would on rare occasions go away and leave me for a night or two at most, I enjoyed the freedom but was always very glad to have them back. Being left alone for a week or two, on a regular basis, counts as child neglect imo. If he's having his mates round for parties, smoking weed and stealing from the building then he's definitely not a sensible kid who can look after himself...Is he going to school while his mother is away, I wonder?

Completely agree, it is neglect.


The law doesn't give an age, but who in their right mind leaves a teenager home alone for weeks on end? There's something not right with this family.


Ring the police on 101 and tell them of your concerns - the vandalism, the weed etc.


Chances are the police and social services probably already know this family but there's just a chance they might not, so tell them.

Counting_Pennies_2

Total neglect.


We had a similar situation 15 years ago with a neighbour.


It was hell, and became the reason we have only lived in detached houses since.


In hindsight we should have reported it to the authorities.

suki1964

Flip, me and my sisters, aged 13, 11 and 7 were left on our own for nearly a year. We just got on with it and no one reported us to ss or thought we were neglected

Ok so it was the mid 70's

Jagraf

suki1964 wrote: »

Flip, me and my sisters, aged 13, 11 and 7 were left on our own for nearly a year. We just got on with it and no one reported us to ss or thought we were neglected

Ok so it was the mid 70's

How on earth did you manage? I grew up in the seventies it would definitely have been reported round by us I'm sure. How awful for you x

YORKSHIRELASS

I remember some time ago hearing a story at work about a little lad who was left on his own a lot and causing mayhem. All the neighbours knew but no-one wanted to be the one to report it.

I have a 14yo son and wouldnt leave him alone overnight. More importantly he wouldnt want to be left alone overnight.

At that age they need a lot of guidance and support. Its very sad that this kid is just being left to his own devices.

suki1964

Jagraf wrote: »

How on earth did you manage? I grew up in the seventies it would definitely have been reported round by us I'm sure. How awful for you x

It was a struggle tbh. Was great the beginning of a week when the child benefit arrived but we were kids and come the end of the week it was usually just potatoes for dinner, think the benefit was around a fiver a week

Mum had left and dad had to work the other end of the country. He would come home every few weeks to pay the bills and leave us some money. Think the only time we saw a social worker was when I was seriously injured and the district nurse was involved. Can't mind anything more then her asking us who cooked and done the washing etc. We survived it although it left its mark on all three of us.

lostinrates

Madmel wrote: »

It definitely depends on the child, but I would pass it on to SS if you are concerned.

Certainly, I would refer to authorities.

But I also agree it depends on the child ( and family). The only time my parents had someone other than my sibling stay with me I was horrified as it was out of the norm, and it ended up feeling claustrophobic and bizarre.

I think the other context here is this poor young man's family. Indeed, what relationship does he have that he is left alone so often so long. It might be an unhappy home situation.

This young man is proving himself unable to behave responsibly however, or cope and needs help of some sort certainly. Poor kid.

KARO

Other neighbours are complaining to the Housing Association. You know what it's like when you don't want to get involved, or cause bad feeling among your neighbours, but these kids behaviour is such that people are getting angry and it's inevitable the authorities are going to be involved at some point. Apparently (I haven't spoken to her myself) the mum seems a nice enough woman, to talk to. It's just her parenting skills that are lacking. I haven't heard mention of a dad.

Unfortunately we don't have cctv where we are, too expensive apparently, so the Housing Association just rely on people witnessing events and telling them, which isn't ideal.

His mates probably think it's great, going round his place and being able to do whatever they like! I have a feeling they wouldn't treat their own houses/flats like that.