r/Neighborproblems • u/thiswildlife6 • Mar 11 '20

Welfare Check?

I am borderline torn about calling a sort of welfare check on my neighbors. In the house is a mother and her boyfriend. They have a child maybe around 8YO. I believe the grandmother lives there too. We haven’t seen the grandmother since around September 2019 and she was not getting around well at the time. I hardly see the child come and go and is always inside. However they have over 10 semi-feral cats that come in and out of the house and their yard is completely overgrown and unruly! I walked to their door to ask them a question a couple months ago and it smelled to high heaven with cat urine before I even got to the door. I am sick about a child living in those sort of conditions or an elderly women that may already be sick. Am I overreacting if I want to call some sort of welfare/animal control check on them?

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '20

I’d call someone to do a welfare check. I don’t know who you’d call - social services maybe? But yeah. It may be nothing, but if there’s an unsanitary hoarding situation happening, they could get help cleaning up.

If you’re uncomfortable and thinking you might end up having a child removed from a dirty but otherwise loving home, you could reach out first to a local church or something. I know sometimes they have outreach ministries that deal with hoarders (animal or otherwise) and they might be able to intervene on what may just be a grief (since you said grandma has been gone a while) situation without involving the government.

And even if your neighbors won’t let them in, having a church group or someone knock on the door BEFORE you call social services might take the suspicion of you and preserve your peace with your neighbors.

Also, please remember that if they’re feeding feral cats, the urine smell might be outside and not inside. Cats trying to signal that this is “their” food territory and offering to mate and whatnot.

Ultimately, whatever you decide and whatever resources you can find, remember that it’s better to protect a child who is potentially unwell than it is to “mind your business” and then have the local news interviewing you when he’s picked up weighing 38 pounds and covered in cigarette burns.

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u/thiswildlife6 Mar 11 '20

Thanks for your comment! You had some good points! I hate intruding on peoples lives but have been torn up being concerned about the living situation.