I have no idea what to do about my new neighbors. They are driving me insane. I guess the problem lies in the fact that what I WANT to do is smack them in the head with a brick, call social services, and animal control, the probably give a stern lecture on common decency, morals and values. But they are the kind of people who will key your car and stuff if you tick them off so I don’t do anything.
Seriously, these people are awful.
There are 4 adults and 4 kids aged 3 to newborn living in a small mobile home. It was just a guy and girl and their 2 kids, but her brother moved in with his GF and their 2 kids.
They have 2 cats which they promptly dumped outside without being neutered or spayed-of course the female cat is pregnant
They have at least 1 pit bull puppy which is pathetically thin tied to the front of the house by a rusty chain attached to its collar.
They were keeping at least one dog in a crate under the house-not sure if it is still there.
The dog (s) bark at all hours.
The kids are filthy.
The kids are still in diapers and walk around with no clothes-just sagging obviously soaked diapers drooping between their legs-barefoot on a gravel road.
The parents-all 4- just scream at the kids. Get the %# over here!!! SHUT UP! Get your #%$ @ss in the yard NOW!!!
They have friends over all the time who park their cars and leave the bass up so loud it vibrates the chandelier in my house as well as the glass in the china cabinet windows.
The language is deplorable. Constant cussing with the F word used as every other word
They always have people over sitting in the yarn and drinking-noon or at night.
They grill over open flame and have tiki torches posted in their yard-which they leave unattended. Keep in mind, if a mobile home catches fire it will burn completely in under 2 minutes.
It breaks my heart seeing animals and kids treated this way.
The reason I haven’t done anything about it is that when I was a kid, a teacher MISTAKENLY thought there was abuse going on inside my home and I had someone from social services and a cop tell me to my face that I was a liar when I told them I was not being abused in my home. I don’t trust social services in my county. In addition, there was a time when it was considered normal to let kids play in just a diaper and run barefoot. And kids get dirty.
I guess the problem is that I KNOW I have very high standards regarding what is appropriate with regards to children. I can’t expect to hold everyone else to my standards. Then I look at people who have become successful despite a rough, poor childhood and alcoholic abusive parents and think that they might not be “ruining their precious childrens lives” as I imagine they are.
I just wish I didn’t have to sit in MY house and hear them SCREAMING at their babies as their dogs bark and the babies cry and the bass is jumping and all the while I can hear the F word filtering through.
But I shouldn’t have to wear earplugs in my own home either. :!!!: :!!!: :!!!: :!!!: :!!!: :!!!: :!!!: :!!!:
very true and very sad…
those folks sound like the type that would just make things worse for you if you said anything… so sorry. Bad neighbors are just the worst.
when i lived in md, the animal shelter wouldn’t even give us a cat because we said we might open the front door sometimes, and they claimed that if we ever opened the door, the cat would run outside and get hit by a car. :hmm: :roll:
Ugh. One of their little girls was just out in the middle of the street riding her tricycle. She got off and her diaper slid down her legs. It weighs that much. gross
Oh and I am not spying-I’m cooking dinner and thats the view from my kitchen sink. :oops:
I think you could think about making an anonymous phone call to child services. If the children are being neglected it is for the best even if you have doubts about child services in your town. I understand the hesitation based on your past experience, but these children could be in danger of health problems and the child being in the middle of the street on her tricycle unattended? That is child endangerment. I don’t know how effective an anonymous phone call is, but if you state the things about the diapers and the unattended child they should at least visit. These children can’t look out for themselves, so you might be doing them a service.
I don’t know how CPS is where you are, but here, in Kansas, if you are turned in they usually don’t do anything unless they get at least THREE complaints from different people. Then, they are required to notify the people that they will be paying a visit, usually giving them 1-2 weeks to clean everything up and get ready.
Our town is soooo sttrict on animal control that they have a time limit on how long your dog can bark before you’re breaking the law, I think it’s like 15 minutes. Dogs AND cats have to be tagged by the vet and the city. It is also unlawful to let your cat run at large.
I agree. Make the call. Your latest post about the child’s diaper sliding down her leg–just pure negligence, as well as with the animals too. Maybe there are drugs involved. You might be saving these kids lives…if they are that abusive to them where neighbors can hear, imagine what might be going on inside.
Or at least the adults they grow into ‘appear’ successful, but I’ve found they can be incredibly tormented mentally over the way they were raised. I (and maybe I’m at the other extreme), am extremely conscious of the fact that I am raising a ‘human being’ that will one day interact with the world and have her own impact on the people around her - and I desperately don’t want her to be these people one day. I feel guilty just being pregnant at the moment, and tired, and not able to give her the quality of time I was a few months ago, but that’s just me. I would definately contact someone about the poor kids. Maybe you could pretend to be 3 different people placing a complaint if you do indeed need to have 3 complaints before CPS will get involved. (Just make sure you do it from different phones, of course).
You know, you could maybe try (and from what I know of you Chel, this will be a HUGE stretch) to become your own Neighbour from Hell, and out horrible them, but then that could just start the spite game rolling.
Sheesh, I really feel for you, what a terrible thing to have to be witnessing.
PS… Maybe you could ‘donate’ some diapers and leave them on the doorstep (I’m sure you have plenty of neighbours and they won’t know where they have come from) cause I’m assuming they spend most of their money on their own entertainment and are trying to get as much use out of the diapers as possible, but for goodness sake, it’s spring ain’t it, and theres nothing better than being outdoors in a bare bottom!
My advice would be to find out what the laws are regarding noise complaints and disturbing the peace and then use that to your advantage. If their loud music and such is at a time that counts for a noise complaint, make one every single time it happens.
I know this sounds like a lot of work, but you should try a couple of things. Create a journal (diary) where you record the time and duration of the dog barking. It would do alot to be able to document things. Also, try to videotape (surreptitiously) some of the condition of the children. Again, proof would go a long way. The renters wouldn’t be able to"clean things up" if you had a tape of what things are really like.
Is there anyone else in your community who is seeing this as well? Maybe a coffee and chat with another neighbour will help you see what is the right thing to do for the children. Who knows, they might be thinking the same things and not want to cause trouble, just like you. Or perhaps they know the family a bit better and see what goes on where you can’t see.
The animal situation makes me so angry I can hardly think.
I work with a pit bull rescue in my area. They are the most amazing dogs in the world, and I just can’t stand to hear of stories like this when they are treated this way. It breaks my heart. No dog deserves to be chained up, ever. No excuses.
I’m sorry you have to witness such things. Sometimes I just don’t understand these types of people.
This is such a difficult situation. But it sounds like this family needs some sort of help or intervention.
I have made one call to social services. I called because I could hear a baby crying constantly, non-stop, day and night. It turns out that there was a lot more going on in the home than “just” a baby crying. I was always glad I called, for the sake of the baby and her two brothers.
I would call. I think most states allow you to call anonymously.
I am so sorry you had a horribly negative experience with social services. But there are a lot of good people in that field, too.
I would also call about the dogs (I know there’s not much you can do about the cats). See if there’s a rescue shelter nearby and maybe they can help or direct you to the best place for help.
If I saw anything like a little child playing in the street, I would call the police immediately. There is no excuse for that.
I would also call the police about the constant loud music. Most neighborhoods have laws about things like that.
Calls to Child Protective Services are confidential. I think you really to need to call about the children. After all, a child in a diaper has no business riding a tricycle in the street!!!
Be prepared to explain all the things that you’ve just told us. It all adds up to abuse, even though no one may be PHYSICALLY hitting the kids.
as a guardian ad litemfor kids in foster care and custody cases, I see this type of behavior every day, and it is neither normal nor good.
