1. I have two children of primary school age.
2. The cops are better placed than EF to know who can best deal with it
3. OP is afraid of the parents
4. Something here is probably criminal
5. If it's not then the cops can stand down and contact somebody else
I don't get any other logic here, if a couple of young kids have been left to fend for themselves, it's a police matter. They will then move it on to other agencies as required.
In reality one could phone around various places, for days, weeks, passed on from one agency to another.. Meantime the kids are dead, abused, un-fed .. For all we know the mother is actually there, dead from an OD..
Or one could call the cops and they will own it.
Yes, you can report the case anonymously.
Google "kesb adressliste", you should get a few xls among the top hits that list the communal/regional agencies, including the one covering your area. That's probably preferable to the Cantonal one.
As an alternative you could contact the Vaudiose
Service de protection de la jeunesse
Autorité centrale cantonale - CLaH 96
Avenue Longemall 1
1020 Renens
Tel: 021 316 53 95 / 14
Police is probably far from best here as it's not a clearcut situation, let alone one that requires immediate action. Quite the contrary, that could even aggravate the problem.
Normally not.
Anyway, what are the exact ages? 6 is one thing, 11 another.
Tom
John, I agree with you - it looks like primarily safety issue that needs to be secured. What is tricky, though, is the fact that a police presence will scare the living bejeezus out of the kids. OP has been really good with all the discretion and installing some sense of normalcy, Child Protection will continue. I'd call there 1st, then a min after call the cops saying the kids shouldn't get alarmed and that the Child Protection has been informed. The cops will check on that, they have their unintrusive ways. In my experience this gets treated discretely and well. Better to call both.
Abuse of a child ...................I'll let you work it out Tom, i had you down as more sensible than asking such a question.
If the situation is appraised as being critical, which it seems to be and this is by somebody with some experience, it seems, then the police is the easiest and quickest way to get an intervention whilst the situation is resolved
Depends on the age of the child, a ten year old can certainly (and legally) be left alone.
Tom
For a week?
And "can" doesn't mean "should". Especially in this case where the child appears to be in distress and is not eating properly.
We've been in the same situation. Feeding a child in the neighbourhood as they were not being fed properly at home (they were being fed at other neighbours too).
In this case, the school also noticed that the child was malnourished and did something about it.
The parents have the right, but also the duty, to care for their children's physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. Going by OP's description they may be neglecting that in a serious way.
If the parents were simply away for a while, and the children Ok with that, they wouldn't avoid answering or stay away altogether when questioned a bit.
Tom, that's different from you leaving your children after teaching them what they needed to know. And certainly you had made sure help was available in case of an emergeny.
100% true, but they cannot be abused and with a mother as a possible prostitute and a farther who is a drug addict, this risk of abuse would seem fairly high
The Mother has returned, I sighted her.
I gave the child (who has a phone) the local office number for the Protection of Minors. They understand why. (They know I will report, if I feel the need, they were relieved with this. In the meantime I wanted to empower them and their sibling). The local office numbers are to be found buried in a PDF at the back of a report.
Link here in case someone needs to use it in the future in Vaud: https://www.vd.ch/themes/population/...eurs/#c2027027
The site also explains what abuse is, including neglect and that everyone can report and how.
Speaking with a teacher friend at another local school, it appears that neglect, especially leaving upper primary children alone for a week or days at a time is quite accepted in a certain ethnic community here. She informed me for that for the most part it goes under the radar and is unacceptable.
Thanks all.
As prostituion is legal here, whether she's a prostitute or not is as relevant as whether she's a biochemist or not.
Tom
Correct, entirely legal. I know her profession because she told me and was concerned I would not allow our children to be friends. She does not work from home, that I am positive. Bigger city nearby.
It is the drink, drugs and known associates that are allied oftentimes that can impact the children enormously.
Tom, you really should learn how to use emojis correctly. The way you use them in this thread is really distasteful.
Did you contact travail social scolaire? When I had such children in Kindergarten, I always went to travail social scolaire first and foremost. They are used to handle such cases.
I was told, there had been complaints before already and they were happy I let them know through travail social scolaire. They will take the next steps.