I called the police.

[smalltownclerk]

A couple has been coming into the store for some time, sometimes with their kids (4 all under the age of 6), sometimes they leave the kids in the van, in the cold of winter, without the engine running. When they did bring their kids in, the father was like Hitler with them, yelling at them to stand against the wall and not make a sound. He continually belittled them, the kids would be crying silently. My co-workers and I got sick of this abuse. After they left the kids in the van for 45 minutes, while they wandered through the store, I called the police.

The state police showed up just as the couple was leaving in their van and going to the dollar store behind our store. They waited while the couple was in the dollar store (20 minutes) and when they came out the police were at their van waiting for them.

An hour later, the state police showed up at my store and questioned me, and 2 of my coworkers, about the couple. Of course the couple claimed that it was the first time they had ever left their kids alone in the van. The police weren't buying it.

I don't know what happened, but the couple now only comes in with the baby. They were never informed who turned them in.

I just hope the other three little ones are OK.

[bhskittykatt]

I think you did the right thing.

Hopefully the kids are alright. And if they're leaving them somewhere else and the police are called again...at least now there's a paper trail following this couple around.

[raudf]

You did the right thing in reporting them, because that is completely uncalled for. Hopefully the kids are with a family who loves and cares for them. And get them psychological help, the poor mites. I'd hope their parents learned to care for the baby better, but... I get the feeling they won't learn anything from the past.

If it's too much hassle to deal with a kid in public, either hire a baby sitter or better yet, just stay home. Kids that age are trouble on or in wheels when left alone for too long. Boredom is a very bad thing

[smalltownclerk]

According to the police, the couple and kids lived in a home that was... not good. Their electricity and heat had been turned off. The older kids were such good little kids, who got yelled at and who know what else happened to them at home.

I wasn't blessed with children of my own, but I would take those little ones in a heartbeat.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'll say it again: Just because you can have kids doesn't mean you should.

[EricKei]

re: the paper trail -- Chances are that these.."parents"...had a prior history of doing this stuff and that the cops had been called on them in the past...and it's just that this particular report gave the cops something that would stick. I hope that the kids end up all the better for it -- or, even better (if unlikely), that the parents themselves improve. I feel kinda sorry for the baby there; while Social Services is probably watching them like a hawk, the little one may take the fallout for this in the future.

[Der Cute]

Thank you, thank you thank you. I'd rather have someone check on the kids and find it's unfounded than let them be in a shit hole. It is stressful, because CPS was watching over me and my kid. There's a reason for that, and I understood. Didn't like it, but it was the right thing to do. Came to be "unfounded" and we're all good.
But, I'd rather have that than know a kid's living in squalor, eating breadcrumbs for dinner, scared shit-less for 24/7.
Keep in your thoughts for the kids and improvement in their lives. They need it.

[mathnerd]

You did the right thing. Thanks for looking out for the kiddos. Hopefully they're in a better environment now.

[MoonCat]

Sounds like the people who used to live across the street from me on the old street. Their electricity had been turned off and in the summer, they slept on the inside front porch instead of in the house (too hot I guess, and they couldn't even run fans, since they had no power). They had two toddlers. The mothers spent most of their day sitting on the front steps, smoking and occasionally drinking. We didn't realize they were pretty much living in the porch area until right before they moved.

[smalltownclerk]

Thank you all for your support. I don't like to mess in anyone else's business, but those kids needed someone. I did what I could, other than anything I'd have liked to have done, but that would have been illega,l to the parents.