I Called Child Services on My Neighbor—Now My Marriage May Not Survive It

When my neighbor Monica abandoned six of her children on my doorstep with nothing but a shout and a sprint toward a waiting taxi, I knew I had to act fast. Her only solution? “Drop them off at Jennifer’s”—an elderly woman barely able to stand. When Monica laughed off my warnings, I called Child Services. Minutes later, the kids were gone, escorted out by caseworkers and police. I thought I’d done the right thing—until my husband came home, furious, accusing me of tearing a family apart. Now I lie awake wondering if I really protected those kids, or if I just…

Last Friday, everything felt normal. The kettle was boiling, my phone was charging, and I was halfway through folding laundry when a knock rattled my front door. It was her again—Monica, my neighbor.

She has six kids. Not two. Not four. Six. And for some reason, she’s made it her mission to turn every house on the block into a free daycare. I’ve dodged it before, but she’s clever. She once “just needed to borrow sugar” and ended up leaving her toddler with me while she went “to the corner store.” That corner store trip took four hours.

So, this time, I stayed quiet when she knocked. But she didn’t leave. She knocked again. Louder. It sounded like she was trying to break in. I cracked the door open—and in that two-second window, she shoved words into the air like bullets: “Be back Sunday, black cab’s waiting, thanks so much!” Then she sprinted away before I could say a thing.

I called after her. I even grabbed her sleeve, but she twisted out of reach and vanished into the taxi. I was left standing in my doorway… with a baby in a car seat, a toddler clinging to my leg, and four more confused, wide-eyed little faces staring up at me.