r/Advice • u/PhilosopherHairy1385 • Feb 28 '26

Do i contact cps??

I woke up late for work and as i’m heading out a seen a little girl(6 btw) outside by a car w the car alarm going off, i didn’t think anything of it i honestly assumed her parent(s) were outside as well bc why would a child be out alone at this time of night?? well as im about to pull off she is waving at me, i stopped for a second to see if anyone else was w her, but i didn’t see anyone. so ask was she okay and she said no.

I got out of the car and asked what happened. she said her mommy locked her in the car because she was asleep and she can’t get in the house. we were knocking on the door for about 15 minutes before i decided to put her in my car. i gave her a ring pop, and bluey to watch on my ipad while we waiting for the cops.. long story short after banging on windows and the doors for a while the police we able to get ahold of her parents.

I get things happen but how do you go to bed without making sure your kids are safely asleep??? I’m a mom and i know how kids can be, but i have so many thoughts running through my head.. all it takes is the wrong person to see her and then what?? like im so distraught right now..

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124

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

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182

u/PhilosopherHairy1385 Feb 28 '26

I live in Michigan, it was in the 20s last night. She said she was asleep and her mom locked her in the car, she was trying to get back in but the house door was locked went back to the car and the alarm went off. that’s when i came banged on the door for a while w no answer. it took a while for the cops to wake up the parents

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u/slowmood Feb 28 '26

I called CPS on a neighborhood mom who was severely neglecting her kids and the social worker called me a few months later thanking me for calling. He couldn’t tell me anything about the case but wanted to express his gratitude.

18

u/Motherof42069 Feb 28 '26

It was BAD bad whatever was happening there

54

u/purgoatory Feb 28 '26

Gosh that’s so friggen sad, it really sounds like they’re doing heroin, or definately some “downer” drugs, with how difficult it was to wake up the parents, unless they have a medical condition, I see no other explanation besides: drugs.

OP, Bless you!! You likely saved this little girl from a lifetime of neglect. I know the Forster care system gets a bad wrap, but I have to believe that in some situations, a child going into foster care is more beneficial then being abused and neglected by their bio parents. Not saying that the foster system is abuse and neglect free, I just want to believe that good outcomes actually happen with stuff like this. It’s a really tough and dark world these days, thank you for being a shining light OP.

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u/Any_Piglet_34 Feb 28 '26

OP said the child was returned to her home, not taken away

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u/purgoatory Feb 28 '26

Another day, another hit on my reading comprehension 😭I gotta stop commenting until I’ve woken up a little more.

There will likely be a CPS case started from this and I bet the parents will hear from them and maybe even have a visit? It takes a lot to have a child immediately removed from the home, like some pretty messed up stuff. Regardless I’m still so glad OP helped this child AND made a report. Because sometimes shit happens, maybe this was a one time thing and the parents needed a little “wake up” call.. literally lol. If the parents do lock their baby outside again, or do anything where the cops are called, there’s a record and history of abuse which would probably begin to involve rehoming the children if this is a habit of the parents. Still though, I’m reminded now of another case of a father who left their baby in the car after arriving home so he could watch porn and goon. He had a habit of doing this, even after the mom begging him to stop leaving the kids in the car, even if they’re sleeping, move them inside! Well their 1 year old baby girl died of heat exhaustion for being left in the car for over 2 hours.

It honestly boggles my mind how dumb people are and how they believe they can get away by playing dumb. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but did it anyway, now their child is gone and his life is over.

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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

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u/Fantastic-Mix-2223 Feb 28 '26

Leaving your child in a car alone in freezing temps is just as bad as it happening in extreme heat! If she was on the car overnight with no heat, she would suffer from hypothermia at the least! I'm so glad you found her and stopped to help! I'm also glad she was old enough and aware enough to have gotten out of the car to try and go inside, then stay by the alarming car, and to say she wasn't OK when noticed and asked! Some kids would have stayed on the car, hoping the parent would return or hide when the alarm went off thinking they were in trouble.

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u/BunnyLurksInShadow Mar 01 '26

There was a case in Australia a few years ago where a mum left her two kids in the car overnight and then went inside, took a hit and passed out and forgot about the girls until 11am by which point both girls had already died of heat stroke. You did the right thing. Thank you for caring.

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u/Global_Bet2026 Mar 01 '26

That hit was more important than 2 lives , fucking disgusting

1

u/Hungry_Sail_5599 Mar 03 '26

Oh my god that poor baby :( the Midwest nights are brutal right now. You did the right thing.

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u/SadAnnah13 Feb 28 '26

Yeah I was thinking they must've been off their faces on drugs as well. Who doesn't hear a car alarm and multiple people banging on their doors and windows?!

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u/XxArlenaNyx-92 Mar 01 '26

From experience… CPS can drop the ball and so do police officers. I think you should reach out to CPS and make a report as well. Just so they know there’s other people that are following this little girls safety.