Bf (33m) and I (26f) have concerns about a kid in our neighborhood kid (11f) and don’t know how to approach her mother (??f)

I’m not sure if this is the right sub for this. TLDR at bottom.

My boyfriend and I live in a pretty nice mobile home in an okay mobile home park. It’s not the best area but it’s not unsafe. We’ve lived here for about two years. There’s a park and a recreational center within walking distance. After we moved in and started going to said park, we met a little girl there. I’ll call her Jessie. She said she lived in the mobile home park as well. We saw her around a lot. She seemed to just be roaming around the neighborhood a lot of the time. I honestly didn’t think much of it.

About a month ago she figured out where we live. Since then she has been knocking on our door pretty much every day to play with our kids. And the rest of the time she again, seems to just be roaming around the neighborhood. It’s been really hot out. Like, heat advisory “don’t stay outside for more than half an hour” hit. In the middle of this heat wave she knocked on out door one day asking if the kids could play. We were on our way out of the door and she asked if she could have some water. She was red and drenched in sweat. This is a frequent thing now. If we’re about to leave the house she will ask for food or water before we go. She smells and looks disheveled. Often she’s not wearing shoes. Last week she came over at 9 AM asking for food. She said she slept outside and her neighbor told her her mom was out partying. She also said her mom said “no breakfast” that morning. We fed her and let her hang out for a bit. It’s getting to the point where she’s at our house A LOT.

There has been some weird stuff regarding her mom as well. Last week she knocked on our door and said her mom wanted to know if we could take her mom to the store. We’ve never met her mom. Never even seen her, and we don’t think she even knows where we live. Then, the other night she knocked on our door and said that her mom wanted us to watch her while she went to the store. My boyfriend asked why she couldn’t stay at her house, she said that she’s not allowed to stay home alone because last time she did the house got broken into. When we asked for her moms phone number she said she didn’t know it. So we let her in and she went home when she figured her mom would be home.

My boyfriend and I are concerned. This girl is roaming around unsupervised constantly and it seems like she isn’t allowed access to her home unless it’s on her mother’s terms. Her mother obviously knows that she spends time at our house, yet has made zero effort to meet us or speak to us. We could be anyone. We could be any type of people. Trailer parks don’t necessarily attract the best characters. We don’t let our children go outside unattended. And the stuff about sleeping outside and all that is concerning. She could be making some things up but it’s a fact that she is constantly left to roam around in extreme heat.

There’s also the fact that I feel like this woman is taking advantage of us. I feel bad for the girl but also we have a lot of our own stuff going on right now and have enough to deal with without having to watch someone else’s kid. We both have to get up early and she frequently knocks on our door when we’re trying to get the kids ready for bed.

I really have no idea how to approach this situation but I feel like at least speaking to her mother is warranted. I don’t know how to tactfully tell someone that they need to watch their kid and stop overstepping boundaries. Or maybe we are just overreacting to the whole situation. Any advice would be much appreciated.

TLDR; neighborhood kid is possibly being neglected and I need advice on how to talk to her mom about the fact that we’re not okay with having to take care of her kid.

Submitted July 31, 2019 at 02:58PM by biasedjuicelodge https://ift.tt/2ZnFexS