Complain about a neighbour's behaviour?

Question

Every other night, i hear a dad screaming at his young son (i guess the kid must be in 2nd or 3rd standard). Yesterday i heard him telling 'say sorry to dad' and hitting him. i could hear the kid crying 'water water'. the other day, he had locked him up somewhere, and i kid was crying 'mummy, mummy, get me out' and hitting the door... i am unable to sleep these days. the kids' cry keeps haunting me. what can i do? i mean, i dont want to hurt their feelings by just intruding, nor do i wnat to complain to somebody blindly (without knowing the facts). shall i go and talk to them? in all this melee, i dont hear the mother's voice at all. i am very much concerned and worried for the kid.

Answer 1

call the police

Answer 2

get off here now and call child protective service i cannot beleive you waited this long....what are you doing?

Answer 3

call the authorities, they never need to know it was you.  I couldn't live with the guilt day in and day out of hearing that and never at least trying to help.

Answer 4

Call the authorities and remain anonymous.

Answer 5

Thats one to call in. What happens one day when things get out of hand and the kid winds up dead....not something i'd want to look myself in the mirror knowing I could have stopped.

Answer 6

If you're so concerned (and you should be), you shouldn't be wasting time on here! Of course it should be reported; who gives a fudge if it hurts their feelings?! They're forcing you to hear this c**p, so, yeah, intrude, and intrude some more... If you don't, you're just as guilty as they are.

Answer 7

I would definetely ring the police, and get them to give the dad a bit of a scare. This sounds serious. The government in Australia is urging people to call in abuse cases, because there are too many children dying in their own home.

If you just call the police and express a "concern" then at least they can go and check it out, see what the situation is, and then you can have piece of mind.

And I'm sure you arent the only person that has heard it, so you cant be blamed for "dobbing them in".

Good Luck.