Mom asks church to remove homeless person from son's daycare parking lot. AITA?
When this mom is concerned for her son's safety, she asks Reddit:
"AITA for requesting to remove an unhoused person from my son's daycare parking lot?"
This morning as I (F) was dropping my son off at daycare I noticed a tent in the church parking lot.
Normally I try to ignore those as they have become increasingly common in Denver as housing prices skyrocket but this is my son's daycare and I can not ignore a potential threat to his safety.
I ended up speaking to the management and they elected to have a police officer come escort them off the property.
I feel bad because I know that there's ongoing efforts for addiction support at the church that perhaps he was seeking to take advantage of (or not) but I just can't risk an episode or needles were my son plays and felt I needed to do something. So am I the asshole?
Let's see what readers thought.
usedopiniong469 writes:
NTA - most homeless people are harmless. But the rate of harmful behaviour is higher in the homeless than the baseline rate. So your child is safer now than they were before you made the complaint.
Was this an asshole move? Maybe... but your responsibility is to your kid and if you have to be an asshole to protect him then so be it. Is there an yes asshole but who cares option?
cbm984 writes:
YTA. If you saw needles scattered around, you'd be justified. If you saw someone ranting and raving, you'd be justified. If you saw someone who was just getting too close to the kids for comfort, you'd be justified.
But this person was literally just minding their own business by a church (which makes sense because it's probably one of the very few spots where they felt they safe to settle themselves... like, they didn't set up camp outside a playground or Chuck E Cheese) and you blew that up for them.
obiterdicta writes:
YTA. Look, with the high number of homeless/unhoused people who deal with mental health issues, mental disorders and addiction issues, I understand your concerns. But you had no evidence this particular individual was dangerous.
The church does not just serve your son. Places of worship have a long history of assisting the poor, unhoused/homeless, etc.