ethical dilemma

[emeraldkity4]

<p>Our neighbor ( who is moving) and trying to lessen the amount of things she has to move- offered some small dressers to a family on the next block- who is obviously quite poor. ( we know them also 3 young girls- the youngest is toddler the oldest in 6th grade- the grandmother who is diabetic and and amputee, the mother and the father of the youngest girl- who is also the uncle of the two older girls)</p>

<p>Anyway- after stopping by their house- my neighbor reported to me that the adults ( minus the grandmother, not sure if the mother was there- and adding a few others) were smoking crack. The girls weren't there- but I am very concerned about this new information about their situation.
Im not going to go confront them, now that they are too high to talk, but I am not sure what to do.</p>

<p>I don't feel that calling police or DSHS is an automatic solution, because I know of several cases where I think their intervention has made things quite a bit worse, and that isn't counting the cases in the papers where they have pulled kids from homes only to place them in abusive foster homes resulting in their deaths.</p>

<p>I suppose I should go double check this information for myself- since I am just going by my neighbors reports- she does tend to be excitable, but I don't think she would exagerate to that extent- I have no idea what crack smells like however- other than her report that it smells like fingernail polish remover?
Appreciate any suggestions</p>

[mkm56]

<p>Sounds like a tough situation. Is there anyone you could talk with confidentially? Is anyone in this family involved with a church? Or is there some kind of drug outreach program that you might be able to speak with anonymously? I'm like you, I don't know that I would recognize "crack" if I fell over it.</p>

[northeastmom]

<p>Ek, this is a tough one, and I don't have an answer. I do agree with your point, </p>

<p>
[quote]
I don't feel that calling police or DSHS is an automatic solution, because I know of several cases where I think their intervention has made things quite a bit worse, and that isn't counting the cases in the papers where they have pulled kids from homes only to place them in abusive foster homes resulting in their deaths.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I know a situation where parents divorced immediately, b/c dad was worried about losing his children. One of the kids made an accusation at school, which I won't go into on cc. The teacher contacted DSHS after discussing the matter with her principal. Bottom line is that this precipitated a quick divorce, the mother remarried in another state, and had another child. Original couple's first 2 children were raised without their mother, and now there is minimal contact. They really were better off with their mother and father, than with just their father. There is another child being raised by the same woman, so I wonder what DSHS really accomplished. IMO, not much.</p>

[MarathonMan88]

<p>In addition to mkm56's very good suggestion about church and drug outreach programs, there might be a contact person in the school district who deals with situations like this. Schools unfortunately sometimes have to deal with the difficult call regarding when a home situation requires formal or informal intervention.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>oh thats a good idea
I have seen community member who seem to be from local organizations come and do things like yardwork occasional for them ( very occasionally), but I don't know where they were from.
However- the girl who is in middle school probably has a drug/alcohol counselor attached to the school & I am sure that the girls would appreciate some support- even if they don't want to be removed from their home.</p>

[latetoschool]

<p>Emeraldkity, I'm not usually a fan of reacting to or believing in second hand information, and I especially find gossipy neighbors abhorrant, but, unfortunately the neighbor is probably correct: crack does indeed smell exactly like acetone (primary ingredient in nail polish remover I think?), and sometimes ammonia. </p>

<p>This can be a dangerous situation; if it were me, I would speak to the local DEA office, and then to the school, but I would remain VERY anonymous. There isn't going to be any pretty outcome of this, regardless of what anyone does or doesn't do.</p>