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Parents and Guardians Forum>Should I Take Any Action?
Brandee 05:42 PM 11-30-2016
I'm not a parent or guardian. I'm just a concerned neighbor. I've read on the forums and have seen similar posts about this, but every case is different.

I live across the street from a pretty big house. The lady that lives there runs a daycare. I'm not sure if it's licensed, but that's not my issue. I've never had kids, so I'm not totally sure if I should worry or not.

So a few weeks ago (back when it was still super sunny), all the kids were outside and she was mowing the lawn. One of the small children (around 2-3 years old) ran into the tire of her vehicle with a big wheeler (she has a big white Suburban-type vehicle, so all he did was bump off of the rubber). She proceeds to yell at the kid ("How would you like to be ran in to?!"), and chasing him around her vehicle with the mower (it wasn't on, but she was yelling as she chased him). The child dropped the big wheel and tried to run into the house through the garage and she laughed when he couldn't get in. I don't know what happened after that.

Earlier this week, she was loading the children (2 at least, but I'm pretty sure there were a couple more on the other side of the vehicle). One of the boys had no shoes on (it was 55 degrees that day). She's talking on her cell phone and she grabs one of the boys (a cute little red haired boy, no more than 3) by the ear and pulls him around to the other side of the car, loads him up, gets in the driver's seat and drives away. Still on the phone.

Yesterday, they were loading up again, and she opened the door for this boy. He was maybe 3-4. He climbed up into her car (again, it's a big Suburban-type) and just as he'd gotten himself up and onto the seat, she shut the door and drove off. Shouldn't she have buckled him up? I thought kids had to be in a harness type of seat.

Maybe I'm over reacting. I mean, I kind of hope I am. I don't like the thought of people being mean to children. But I'm not a mother, or a caregiver, so maybe some of this is normal(-ish) behavior. Am I right to be worried?
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Blackcat31 06:30 PM 11-30-2016
Originally Posted by Brandee:
I'm not a parent or guardian. I'm just a concerned neighbor. I've read on the forums and have seen similar posts about this, but every case is different.

I live across the street from a pretty big house. The lady that lives there runs a daycare. I'm not sure if it's licensed, but that's not my issue. I've never had kids, so I'm not totally sure if I should worry or not.

So a few weeks ago (back when it was still super sunny), all the kids were outside and she was mowing the lawn. One of the small children (around 2-3 years old) ran into the tire of her vehicle with a big wheeler (she has a big white Suburban-type vehicle, so all he did was bump off of the rubber). She proceeds to yell at the kid ("How would you like to be ran in to?!"), and chasing him around her vehicle with the mower (it wasn't on, but she was yelling as she chased him). The child dropped the big wheel and tried to run into the house through the garage and she laughed when he couldn't get in. I don't know what happened after that.

Earlier this week, she was loading the children (2 at least, but I'm pretty sure there were a couple more on the other side of the vehicle). One of the boys had no shoes on (it was 55 degrees that day). She's talking on her cell phone and she grabs one of the boys (a cute little red haired boy, no more than 3) by the ear and pulls him around to the other side of the car, loads him up, gets in the driver's seat and drives away. Still on the phone.

Yesterday, they were loading up again, and she opened the door for this boy. He was maybe 3-4. He climbed up into her car (again, it's a big Suburban-type) and just as he'd gotten himself up and onto the seat, she shut the door and drove off. Shouldn't she have buckled him up? I thought kids had to be in a harness type of seat.

Maybe I'm over reacting. I mean, I kind of hope I am. I don't like the thought of people being mean to children. But I'm not a mother, or a caregiver, so maybe some of this is normal(-ish) behavior. Am I right to be worried?
What state are you in?

We can help find the number to your area DHS/CPS.

Reporting a concern doesn't always mean an urgent or immediate danger only situation and can be a "non-emergency" situation such as the snippets of things you've witnessed over a course of time.

It's DHS's job to investigate and act, it's only your job as any concerned human to report anything you believe could be harmful to a minor child.

You arent required to have proof just concern. DHS assumes that most folks use common sense and not report for frivolous reasons such as revenge (bad neighbor relations etc) or to be troublesome (baby daddy/mama issues etc) so if you are truly concerned please call.
Sometimes that one unmade call would have made a difference.
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AmyKidsCo 06:36 PM 11-30-2016
I'd report it. Better to be safe than sorry...
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Josiegirl 03:10 AM 12-01-2016
Wow, I was ready to read that provider the riot act when you said she was outside mowing the lawn with the dcks there. Unless she had someone else watching them while she was mowing.....
Anyways, I think you have every right to be concerned and do call the proper agency. Pulling kids' ears, not buckling them in, mowing with them outside.....
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daycarediva 06:59 AM 12-01-2016
Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
Wow, I was ready to read that provider the riot act when you said she was outside mowing the lawn with the dcks there. Unless she had someone else watching them while she was mowing.....
Anyways, I think you have every right to be concerned and do call the proper agency. Pulling kids' ears, not buckling them in, mowing with them outside.....
RIGHT!?

What state are you in? We can guide you to the right agency to report this.
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Brandee 07:05 PM 12-06-2016
I'm in California. And like I said, I'm not a parent, so I'm always not 100% sure if something is actually normal behavior with regards to kids. So thanks for helping.
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Mike 08:20 PM 12-06-2016
report abuse page:
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/pg20.htm

county phone numbers
http://www.childsworld.ca.gov/res/pd...ergNumbers.pdf
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