I recently met a family that moved from Ohio to the mountains of Northern California that have elementary aged home-schooled children and a toddler. After a few days of working for them, I was overwhelmed with anxiety due to the children crying to me about their feelings of neglect, their mother being stressed out not giving them attention, not having clean dishes to eat off of. Overall I could see that the emotional state that they were in was concerning. Their mother hired me so that she could have a "sanity day" and do some work outside of the home. Needless to say, she "turned it on" for me to appear to be a healthy functioning family and lit a candle to cover the stench of her repulsively unclean home. I tried not to judge a busy mom with a big family at first, so I agreed to help. However, it did not take long for me to notice many red flags, (and an even dirtier condition than when I first met them), that prompted me, as a professional caregiver and teacher, to wonder if I should report this family to CPS. Here is the list of concerns:
Extremely unsanitary house. The floor in the kitchen, the counter-tops and inside the cabinets are covered with dirt, old crusted food, bugs, candy, and a variety of questionable substances. There was always food left out from days before with flies and gnats hovering. The sink and surrounding area had dirty dishes with rancid milk stains in cups and baby bottles, mold growing in water that had been sitting for days with food left in them, dishes in the cupboards were still dirty or greasy, dirty dishes and food left in every area of the house, attracting bugs, and the bathrooms were so horrendous that I didn't feel comfortable using the restroom (these boys would pee all over and never wash their hands). The house reeked a horrible smell, dirty wipes for the toddler scattered throughout the house and the children couldn't even see the floor in their rooms. Overall, every area in the house was a health hazard. Likewise, I saw no clean clothes or bottles for the toddler.
There appears to be a huge lack of structure. These kids are all home-schooled due to not having vaccinations. The oldest boy (12) was allowed to sleep-in every day that I was there, and I only saw the 10 year-old sitting at the computer once for school (while he was on the phone in front of his mother playing video games). They appear not to have much discipline or respect for an authoritative figure and did not want to read books or study; they wanted to play video games or watch TV. They defied every attempt of me to provide structure. The children would be defensive saying "we are home-schooled and can do what we want to". The kids would fight and the youngest of the three boys would try to "handle" the toddler girl to the point that she would consistently push him away and hit him. She did not appear to understand boundaries.They had lack of educational balance.The 10 year-old can only read at a 1st grade level (barely), has a speech impediment, emotional issues, and expresses his frustration openly. He is overly aggressive with his siblings. They all express their dissatisfaction with him (as well as, expressing that their mother ignores their needs).
The mother did not pay me for my services and harassed me on a caregiver website giving false ratings and information due to projection, embarrassment and spite.
Now, this is only a few days and I probably did not capture everything. However, it was enough for me to question the situation and if I should report this mother to protect the children living in filth, have a lack of education, and no real structure that will help them form as they grow up. Does any of this sound like grounds for contacting CPS officials to look into the situation? I am worried for the children but not sure if this is enough to make a report. I have NEVER seen a family this filthy and deprived, I am so concerned for the educational, emotional and overall health of these children.
HELP!
20180330
