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John is twelve and until recently lived with his Mum and Dad. John was unpopular in his local area. He was often in trouble for shouting at people, damaging cars and property and generally making a nuisance of himself. He spent a lot of time out of his house and wouldn’t go home until very late at night. His neighbours considered him difficult and avoided him whenever possible.
One night a neighbour spotted John sitting outside his house. He looked drunk and very cold. She didn’t feel that she should call the police but she did call the Child Protection Line for advice.
The operator put John’s neighbour through to her local social work services, so that she could explain what she’d seen. John’s family was already known to social work services and although he wasn’t on the child protection register, things had clearly got worse in the last few months.
A social worker visited the family and discovered that conditions in the home had deteriorated since their last visit. His mother had become addicted to heroin and was now working on the streets to finance her habit. His father wasn’t interested in John and had been buying him alcohol to keep him out of his way. John’s basic needs were now not being met.
John’s situation was extremely desperate. A decision was taken to remove him from his parental home and he is now in foster care. While he misses his Mum, he feels safe there and is much calmer. He hopes that his mum will succeed on the heroin detox programme and that he can go back one day. Meantime, he is safe and no longer getting into trouble. John needed someone to hear his call for help.