unfit mother?

[rugeleyboy]

i may of mentioned this person before and i have lready made my mind up that i will be doing nothing as it's nothing to do with me, but i need to ask anyway.

a friend who i used to work with has a partner and 2 children (7 & 8), his partner has started to become erratic over the past few years and doing some very strange things indeed, it started to become a problem for me when she would ring every other minute and demand he go home as the children were doing her head in and she couldnt handle them, then over the past couple of years she has let herself go, and because of her own lack of cleanliness her children have started to go to school smeely and with unclean clothes and uncut/unwashed hair.

the house is unfit for habitat and they have 2 dogs that poo and wee everywhere but she doesnt clean it up... the house they live in is rented to them by me, i have done as much as i can by evicting the dogs from sept 1st and insisting on a fortnightly inspection, i dont know if i can do that but for the kids sake they need a clean house.

anyway........ the problem has esculated over the past couple of weeks with her thinking that everyone is trying to kill her,including the doctor who has expressed his concern that she need help, but she thinks he is trying to drug her so she wont take the pills, she thinks that someone is poking her in the side and every now and again will jump out of her skin and scream because someone has just poked her....... even if there is no one around?... except for her fella and kids.

her boyfriend had to give up work to look after his kids over the summer break because she cant handle them but he can no longer take anymore from her as she wont help herself and has left her!!!

i am really worried about the kids as i dont believe she is in the right mental state to look after herself?

my wife has told me to keep out of it and perhaps i should?

[rugeleyboy]

right................ i have taken all your words and advice and i have realised i need to do something for the children's best welfare.

i know the children wont get taken into care because the father is a willing person to look after them so i have made an anonymous call to social services.

i feel a little bit sneaky about it but hopefully it will be for the best.

[China Doll]

Definitely for the best RB, this is no kind of life for them at the moment.

[birdbath]

I think you have made the right decision, although you may be feeling "sneaky" right now, you will be able to look back and know that you done the best thing for those kids and the woman.
How will you act with your friend? if he happens to tell you that the social work department has been involved will you tell him?

[Greedyfly]

Social services should surely be involved by now - ring them, they should alreaddy be onvolved if it has got this bad.

[rugeleyboy]

i will be honest if asked because he knows my concern for his kids, i have expressed this concern for a long time.

[lil75]

I am glad that you found the courage in you to take action...lets face facts, it was needed, you have done the right thing, and bless you for being so caring x

[pinktwink]

well done you have made the right but a tough decision. Don't loos hope if you don't get a quick response. Socialservices deal with a lot of referrals on any given day some more serious than others. Often it is hard to assess the seriousness of anonymous calls as they are unable to contact the referrer back to check information. If you are not happy with their response or speed of response ring again or send a letter anonymous or otherwise.

[luckyman]

it is your duty to call social services or nspcc now.....

[sense4all]

She sounds like she has proper clinical depression and will not realise how odd her behaviour is until her chemical balance is restored by medical means. She needs a proper medical intervention ... but they won't do anything until it gets so bad she has to be sectioned against her will ... I understand why the laws exist ... but it is crap that kids have to live through this with her. Noxie is right about schizophrenia there are five main 'marker symptoms' and suffering three should mean that she NEEDS be attenting the psychiatric department at her local hospital. Off to see if I can scare up some info on it ... love Sense X.

[sense4all]

Ruge if you were one of those kids you would be praying for someone to do something ... Dad is too close to call it ... I do understand Mrs Ruges worries though ... here's some insight into negative symptoms of illness

http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/bgdisplay.jhtml? itemname=schizophrenia_symptoms&page=ecall

Hope you can get some help to restore some balance into this families life ... tablets take fourteen days to get into system properly not instantaneous i'm afraid (If she agrees to take them or gets sectioned ). This is definately the darkness before the dawn I'm afraid.