Did the inspection on a Rat(Norway)job today. One of those places you want to pull away from as soon as you pull in the yard. It was exactly what you would expect with garbage and filth all over the place, 6 dogs, a rabbit, leaky pipes, exposed wires all over the basement. I'm sure a bunch of you've seen them...You just know the place is going to burn down or is already filled with mold. Well I did the inspect, found entry point and outlined a strategy...Before I left I learned "grammy and grampy" take care of their 3 year old grand daughter in this place. Just makes me sick. I'll feel a lot better if they call me tonight and have me complete the full trapping, exclusion and cleanup I advised and quoted for them. If not...Don't we have some type of civic duty to report living conditions when they are at a certain point? Any similar experiences?

Thanks,
Chip

i have had a few like that. really gets under my skin when there are kids living in those kind of places.
had one last year that called about a squirrel. get over there and the place has more than a squirrel problem. roaches everywhere. one of those places where you want to burn your clothes as soon as you get home. glad i did not get that job.

Never an easy straight forward answer.

We have cleaned out hoarder's homes and done trapping for people who couldn't afford it for free. Sometimes those people are just scared, they know they can't take care of themselves but they don't want to go into a home. A lot of people lack a support structure.

Also, was a foster parent for years and see and understand where some of those kids come from.

Not picking on you, but I think that reporting them would be the basest of civic duties. I would encourage you to really try and help them. Get some buddies and clean the place up on a weekend. Get them in touch with services or a local church. If you really wanted to help the kid that would be best. Not getting them yanked from their family and sent to live with strangers.

Sometimes you are dealing with mental illness or people that won't let you help them. I run into that too. Then you might have no choice but to report.

Yeah, one of my coworkers had to notify CPS on a bedbug job. I understand it was really bad. I've never come across anything bad with children involved. I always figured adults have a choice to be in it.

I have a recommendation field on one of my forms, I leave my comments in that after I verbalize them to the tenant/homeowner on their situation and a course of action on how to reduce/eliminate their problem. Cleanliness is a matter of opinion, hard to make that call not seeing how bad things really were. Had a rodent call once where they were surprised on how many mice were in their home. You could literally move a trash bag and have 3 to 4 mice run out from behind or under it. Did the job and moved on to the next. Safety issues are a whole different ball game, specially if you do the job. I'd document it, take pictures of the hazards and let them know what you're doing, and if the safety hazard is that serious refuse the job until the necessary repairs are made. If you're losing sleep over it, reevaluate the situation on the follow up, then make a decision. Reality is, you could deem a situation hazardous and BOH could walk in and find nothing wrong.

Yes, on a dead animal call. One goat skeleton chained to a tree, one dog soup in a pet crate, one dog carcass chained to deck railing and the fresh dead dog I was called to pick up.
Fortunately I had a cc# so I got paid while I waited on animal control.

Oh, and I didn't have to remove the fresh dead either.

I had a hard time doing this particular job, on the set up I would watch the little kids walk through the trash to get to another room or outside to play, very depressing. But I'm not a social worker nor was I there to act as one, I set up the job and when it was done, I typed up two pages of recommendations and left it at that. Went back a week later on a follow up and seen little change in the condition of the porch. The first few days I dealt with trash thrown on the rodent traps, bags and boxes obstructing the cages for the critters on the back porch, on a few occasions I couldn't even find the traps because they were moved and buried under trash. This lead to a "talk" with the owner, and issue was solved, sometimes it's a losing battle. This was a job where they didn't understand how and why they had so many mice in the house and critters on the porch.

Thanks for all the input and experiences guys. I'm still waiting on the callback to complete the trapping. My guess is they aren't going to call. Not that I was really looking forward to the job but I at least know it would have been done right.
As for the kid. I think there is plenty of help around if they wanted to make the place more livable...Son was there when I arrived (childs dad?) and he was a strapping youth of about 30. Just gets under my skin....I know reporting is the extreme but short of giving away the job I'm not sure what I can do.

Thanks again,
Chip

For the guys from Wisconsin- We have a "new" 211 system. It is similar to calling 911, but it is for people who need non emergency needs. It is answered 24/7. They provide support to mental health, suicide prevention, Red Cross, heating assistance, food assistance, ect.
Not suggesting it is the answer, just another option to share with people in need or who may need a helping hand.

We have made recommendations to the Children and Youth Services several times over the years as a result of conditions found on job sites. Most were due to very unfit living conditions and roach infestation sites. Babies and young children in deplorable conditions.

Bob,

You did the right thing.

Thanks everyone. Yeah...adults they can live in whatever they want...when I see a 3 year old that grates on me a little bit.

I've been doing this for 27 years now and I have never been in a home like you guys describe. Even the hoarders seem to be fairly cleanly! Seeing kids in an environment like that would probably make me crazy. I really did like Bob Jansma's solution though.

I have seen infants with roaches crawling over their faces and into their ears as I stood in disbelief of what I was seeing.

That kind of environment a child is best removed from that home as the parents are either incompetent completely, under the influence of drugs or alcohol or are in need of mental care themselves.

Most are living off the system from the research I have done over the years. In my opinion these types of individuals shouldn't be allowed to reproduce as harsh as it may sound.

A few I would be confident in saying that some were clinically illiterate with a touch of mental illness.

Not an ADC guy , But I have turned in several . For starving animals and poor conditions involving children . Some are low iq , some just just like there drugs over anything else.