A mum was shocked to find an unaccompanied seven-year-old child on her doorstep for the last week. She told the online forum Mumsnet that a neighbour whose child is in her daughter's class has dropped off their child outside her home to be walked to school - but the woman claims she has never met the parents before.
On the 'am I being unreasonable' thread, she said: "I have a neighbour whose child is in my daughter's class, every day this past week this child has shown up at my door unaccompanied to go to school with us - this would be fine but my child has ADHD and mornings are chaotic and difficult.
"I don't have this child's parents phone numbers and don't know exactly where they live. However, I just saw the parent in their car driving away as I was trying to bundle all three children across the car park.....this child is very young and so I don't feel comfortable sending them home alone and clearly the parent isn't waiting for them to get home before leaving themselves.
"I don't have any contact with these parents so if something were to happen I wouldn't be able to let them know, we are also going away soon and won't be able to take him to school. AIBU [am I being unreasonable] to think this is really cheeky of the parents and that you shouldn't just assume another parent will take yours to school with no prior conversation at all."
The Mumsnet post had nearly 500 replies with many people shairing their concern and shock of the situation. One user said: "Omg some people are on another planet."
Many parents also shared their concerns for the child. One person said: "I’d ask the child to show you where they live and then I’d tell the parent exactly what I think. If that didn’t work, I’d inform school and social services that this young child is on the street unattended. This is not your responsibility."
Other users thought that the mum should contact the school regardless as to what the parents said. One said: "Contact the school, this is a massive safeguarding issue." Another added: "Walk the child to school. Then go straight to the office and report this. It's completely unacceptable."
In a separate post, the mum shared that she originally thought the parents were watching through a window to ensure the child was safe, until she saw one parent driving away one morning without checking if the child was with an adult. She told Mumsnet users that she has now informed the school of the situation.
