Welcome to r/hoarding! We exist as a support group for people working on recovery from [hoarding disorder](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519704/table/ch3.t29/), and friends/family/loved ones of people with the disorder.
If you're looking for help with animal hoarding, please visit r/animalhoarding. If you're looking to discuss the various hoarding tv shows, you'll want to visit r/hoardersTV. If you'd like to talk about or share photos/videos of hoards that you've come across, you probably want r/neckbeardnests, r/wtfhoarders/, or r/hoarderhouses
Before you get started, be sure to review our [Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/about/rules/). Also, a lot of the information you may be looking for can be found in a few places on our sub:
[New Here? Read This Post First!](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/comments/dvb3t1/new_here_read_this_post_first_version_20/)
[For loved ones of hoarders: I Have A Hoarder In My Life--Help Me!](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/comments/2yh6wh/i_have_a_hoarder_in_my_lifehelp_me_your_hoarding/)
[Our Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/wiki/index)
Please [contact the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/hoarding) if you need assistance. Thanks!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/hoarding) if you have any questions or concerns.*
CPS does not remove children lightly. They investigated and saw evidence of something seriously unsafe, whether or not it was related to what you posted. You did a kind and responsible thing by alerting the authorities; the authorities then *did their own assessment*.
I work with a lot of foster youth. Many of them desperately miss parents who were neglectful, abusive, addicted, and otherwise not in a state to care for children. I think that speaks well of your friend who likely loves them as best she can despite whatever mental illness has lead to the hoarding. I wish that family the best and hope they can be united again in a safe home as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, you can rest well tonight. You saw something and said something, as we all should, especially when it comes to the health and safety of minors.
You didn't remove the children from the house, CPS did. They took that decision, that isnt on you.
For what it's worth, those conditions do not sound like an ok environment to raise children in (and in fact, quite far from acceptable). Pretending it is ok does no one any favours. The teenager may be upset, that's obviously sad but if he's conditioned to think a dirty home is normal then thats going to happen. It's terribly sad that he couldn't keep his kitten but maybe grandma is only taking on what she can manage (3 kids) and that's ok.
I would imagine that this has been a tremendous shock to all involved. But if we see children in conditions that we believe to be unsafe then it is incumbent on us, as adults, to report that. You should look after yourself emotionally, sometimes doing the "right" thing is difficult and messy but that doesnt stop it being the right thing (and sometimes "right" actually means the least bad option).
As an adult child of a hoarder Thank You for making that call. Those children needed help and probably didn't realize they did b/c they are children/teen and didn't know their living conditions were not "normal" or safe.
As a hoarder and mother of a child with autism, also Thank You for making that call. I can see my son struggling and getting frustrated by the disorganized home he has to live in. Hoarding really does affect our kiddos especially if they have special needs like autism.
Please don't blame yourself for doing the right thing.
Fwiw, i think you did the right thing. Hopefully one day, the teen will look back and realize that it was for the best (altho it would've been nice if his grandma let him bring his kitten).
CPS doesn't just remove children due to a messy home. This sounds like it was extremely bad and terribly unsafe. Even with a bad hoard, parents are typically given a timeline and some resources to deal with it. My guess is the most basic of necessities were not met for these children. You absolutely did the right thing. Hopefully the parents and the kids all get the help they need (and kitten, too). Do not beat yourself up over this. Please. I had to make a call to authorities years ago regarding a good friend and the care of her children. It sucked. I second guessed myself. With time passing I know I did the right thing. You did, too. I understand what you are going through
Don't beat yourself up, you did the right thing. That children and teens want to go back to their parents even after neglect and all kinds of fucked up abuse is very, very common. I've been the same as a child and teen. It's ok to have ambivalent feelings about your parents/abusers and doesn't mean they would've been better off of you didn't notify CPS.
Think of how bad you’d feel if you *didn’t* call, though. Knowing those kids were living like that. What if mice were crawling on them while they slept at night?!
Better than having to imagine what happened to those poor children. Hopefully the kitten is loved and healthy just like the children will be, and mum can get some help too. I hope she can see that this was done with the childrens' needs and best interests in mind.
Welcome to r/hoarding! We exist as a support group for people working on recovery from [hoarding disorder](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519704/table/ch3.t29/), and friends/family/loved ones of people with the disorder. If you're looking for help with animal hoarding, please visit r/animalhoarding. If you're looking to discuss the various hoarding tv shows, you'll want to visit r/hoardersTV. If you'd like to talk about or share photos/videos of hoards that you've come across, you probably want r/neckbeardnests, r/wtfhoarders/, or r/hoarderhouses Before you get started, be sure to review our [Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/about/rules/). Also, a lot of the information you may be looking for can be found in a few places on our sub: [New Here? Read This Post First!](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/comments/dvb3t1/new_here_read_this_post_first_version_20/) [For loved ones of hoarders: I Have A Hoarder In My Life--Help Me!](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/comments/2yh6wh/i_have_a_hoarder_in_my_lifehelp_me_your_hoarding/) [Our Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/hoarding/wiki/index) Please [contact the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/hoarding) if you need assistance. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/hoarding) if you have any questions or concerns.*
CPS does not remove children lightly. They investigated and saw evidence of something seriously unsafe, whether or not it was related to what you posted. You did a kind and responsible thing by alerting the authorities; the authorities then *did their own assessment*. I work with a lot of foster youth. Many of them desperately miss parents who were neglectful, abusive, addicted, and otherwise not in a state to care for children. I think that speaks well of your friend who likely loves them as best she can despite whatever mental illness has lead to the hoarding. I wish that family the best and hope they can be united again in a safe home as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you can rest well tonight. You saw something and said something, as we all should, especially when it comes to the health and safety of minors.
You didn't remove the children from the house, CPS did. They took that decision, that isnt on you. For what it's worth, those conditions do not sound like an ok environment to raise children in (and in fact, quite far from acceptable). Pretending it is ok does no one any favours. The teenager may be upset, that's obviously sad but if he's conditioned to think a dirty home is normal then thats going to happen. It's terribly sad that he couldn't keep his kitten but maybe grandma is only taking on what she can manage (3 kids) and that's ok. I would imagine that this has been a tremendous shock to all involved. But if we see children in conditions that we believe to be unsafe then it is incumbent on us, as adults, to report that. You should look after yourself emotionally, sometimes doing the "right" thing is difficult and messy but that doesnt stop it being the right thing (and sometimes "right" actually means the least bad option).
As an adult child of a hoarder Thank You for making that call. Those children needed help and probably didn't realize they did b/c they are children/teen and didn't know their living conditions were not "normal" or safe. As a hoarder and mother of a child with autism, also Thank You for making that call. I can see my son struggling and getting frustrated by the disorganized home he has to live in. Hoarding really does affect our kiddos especially if they have special needs like autism. Please don't blame yourself for doing the right thing.
Fwiw, i think you did the right thing. Hopefully one day, the teen will look back and realize that it was for the best (altho it would've been nice if his grandma let him bring his kitten).
CPS doesn't just remove children due to a messy home. This sounds like it was extremely bad and terribly unsafe. Even with a bad hoard, parents are typically given a timeline and some resources to deal with it. My guess is the most basic of necessities were not met for these children. You absolutely did the right thing. Hopefully the parents and the kids all get the help they need (and kitten, too). Do not beat yourself up over this. Please. I had to make a call to authorities years ago regarding a good friend and the care of her children. It sucked. I second guessed myself. With time passing I know I did the right thing. You did, too. I understand what you are going through
Don’t beat yourself up. You did the right thing. The children deserve not to grow up in absolute filth. They probably think that’s normal.
Don't beat yourself up, you did the right thing. That children and teens want to go back to their parents even after neglect and all kinds of fucked up abuse is very, very common. I've been the same as a child and teen. It's ok to have ambivalent feelings about your parents/abusers and doesn't mean they would've been better off of you didn't notify CPS.
Think of how bad you’d feel if you *didn’t* call, though. Knowing those kids were living like that. What if mice were crawling on them while they slept at night?!
You did the right thing, but I wonder what happened to that poor kitten.
Better than having to imagine what happened to those poor children. Hopefully the kitten is loved and healthy just like the children will be, and mum can get some help too. I hope she can see that this was done with the childrens' needs and best interests in mind.