Case Study: Physical Abuse of Children Under One

I called the NSPCC because I was worried about my neighbour’s children. They were only young and lived with their mum and dad. There had been trouble in the past when I’d heard shouting and called the police. Their dad had been taken away by the police for the evening but had returned the next day.

In the weeks that followed I noticed that the shouting had got louder and I’d seen the mum with bruises on her face. I knew that both the mum and dad liked a bit of a drink, but the shouting sounded really violent and I didn’t think the kids should be hearing it at their age.

Whenever I saw the kids they were well dressed and clean so I didn’t feel like I could talk to their parents about my worries because outwardly the children looked fine. But I decided to call the NSPCC when I saw the youngest child who was about two years old with a bruise around her left eye.

I spoke to Alexa at the NSPCC who was really concerned about the situation. When I told her about the bruise on the youngest child she decided that the police should carry out a welfare check to find out about the injury and make sure that the children were safe.

I later found out that the police thought my neighbour’s explanation for the injury wasn’t good enough and the children went to stay with relatives while their parents were investigated jointly by the police and Children’s Services.