Neighbour threatened to leave her kid at my place. What do I do?

I babysit my neighbour's kid. She's 6. I do it for free because it's often only an hour or so at a time, and she really is a sweet kid and they're just next door. Her mum usually gives me a pizza as thanks and we call it even. Her mum is a single mum and works all the time. I usually just watch the kid on weekends but she goes to school with my brother, although they're in different years, so every now and again I'll help her mum out by taking her to and from school when I take my brother.
They have a non pupil day coming up and on that day my brother is going to our grandparent's house. On that day I also have an exam worth 40% of my grade for one of my modules.
Her mum came over and knocked on my door earlier and asked me if I could watch her daughter on the non pupil day. I said that I was very sorry, but I have an exam that day, one that failing or not attending will result in me failing the module. Because this exam was at 9 and I had to take a train to get there, I'd be leaving the house at 7 and wouldn't be there to let her in, let alone watch her. She immediately snapped at me to stop lying - of course I'd be here it's a no pupil day and I'd be watching my brother anyway - and I informed her that it was a non pupil day for their school, not my uni, which was an exam day. I then told her that I wouldn't be watching my brother that day as he'd be at our grandparents house and that her kid couldn't go to my grandparents as they've never met her and can really only handle my brother. I gave her the name and number of a friend of mine who her daughter has met before who would be happy to watch her if she needs and the number of a babysitting service in the area that could also help.
The mum doesn't want any of those, says it's too short notice and her daughter likes me and she can't take the day off work to look after her kid. She ended the conversation by basically saying that on the non pupil day she was going to leave her daughter at my doorstep like she does every time I watch her then go to work and if she got home and found her daughter still on my doorstep then she'd call the police on me.
What do I do?

I babysit my neighbour's kid. She's 6. I do it for free because it's often only an hour or so at a time, and she really is a sweet kid and they're just next door. Her mum usually gives me a pizza as thanks and we call it even. Her mum is a single mum and works all the time. I usually just watch the kid on weekends but she goes to school with my brother, although they're in different years, so every now and again I'll help her mum out by taking her to and from school when I take my brother.
They have a non pupil day coming up and on that day my brother is going to our grandparent's house. On that day I also have an exam worth 40% of my grade for one of my modules.
Her mum came over and knocked on my door earlier and asked me if I could watch her daughter on the non pupil day. I said that I was very sorry, but I have an exam that day, one that failing or not attending will result in me failing the module. Because this exam was at 9 and I had to take a train to get there, I'd be leaving the house at 7 and wouldn't be there to let her in, let alone watch her. She immediately snapped at me to stop lying - of course I'd be here it's a no pupil day and I'd be watching my brother anyway - and I informed her that it was a non pupil day for their school, not my uni, which was an exam day. I then told her that I wouldn't be watching my brother that day as he'd be at our grandparents house and that her kid couldn't go to my grandparents as they've never met her and can really only handle my brother. I gave her the name and number of a friend of mine who her daughter has met before who would be happy to watch her if she needs and the number of a babysitting service in the area that could also help.
The mum doesn't want any of those, says it's too short notice and her daughter likes me and she can't take the day off work to look after her kid. She ended the conversation by basically saying that on the non pupil day she was going to leave her daughter at my doorstep like she does every time I watch her then go to work and if she got home and found her daughter still on my doorstep then she'd call the police on me.
What do I do?

Wow what an ungrateful neighbour. Do not give in to this form of bullying.
Neighbour disputes arent good [ they are unpleasant and to be avoided] , so maybe get something printed from the uni, which shows your exam timetable to prove it.


The insurance is I would want an independent witness, so if she did ring someone, then they could confirm your version and not that you had promised to babysit the child.

That could be ring the police beforehand.
Tell your personal tutor, as they would also confirm your exam but your concern about the false allegation coming your way.

let her call the police on you, she will get in trouble with cps. you have no legal responsibility for the child

If she's at work I won't get home from my exam until at least half 1, and that's if I literally go straight from uni to the station (trains don't take long but they're hourly). I showed her my exam timetable on my phone and had to yank it back because she nearly slapped the thing out of my hand. My mum lives with me but she has work from 8am to 6pm so she'll be leaving around 7am, too, meaning that the house will be empty.
I wish I had recorded the whole thing, really. I should have. I'm alone in the house right now so no one else saw. I'll talk to my tutor but I'm not sure what I would say to the police, especially since she might not even do it.
But if she does my main concern is a 6 year old being left on my doorstep for hours on Friday.

I babysit my neighbour's kid. She's 6. I do it for free because it's often only an hour or so at a time, and she really is a sweet kid and they're just next door. Her mum usually gives me a pizza as thanks and we call it even. Her mum is a single mum and works all the time. I usually just watch the kid on weekends but she goes to school with my brother, although they're in different years, so every now and again I'll help her mum out by taking her to and from school when I take my brother.
They have a non pupil day coming up and on that day my brother is going to our grandparent's house. On that day I also have an exam worth 40% of my grade for one of my modules.
Her mum came over and knocked on my door earlier and asked me if I could watch her daughter on the non pupil day. I said that I was very sorry, but I have an exam that day, one that failing or not attending will result in me failing the module. Because this exam was at 9 and I had to take a train to get there, I'd be leaving the house at 7 and wouldn't be there to let her in, let alone watch her. She immediately snapped at me to stop lying - of course I'd be here it's a no pupil day and I'd be watching my brother anyway - and I informed her that it was a non pupil day for their school, not my uni, which was an exam day. I then told her that I wouldn't be watching my brother that day as he'd be at our grandparents house and that her kid couldn't go to my grandparents as they've never met her and can really only handle my brother. I gave her the name and number of a friend of mine who her daughter has met before who would be happy to watch her if she needs and the number of a babysitting service in the area that could also help.
The mum doesn't want any of those, says it's too short notice and her daughter likes me and she can't take the day off work to look after her kid. She ended the conversation by basically saying that on the non pupil day she was going to leave her daughter at my doorstep like she does every time I watch her then go to work and if she got home and found her daughter still on my doorstep then she'd call the police on me.
What do I do?

What kind of disgusting irresponsible parent are you dealing with?

Tell her you'll be contacting social services with regards to neglect. Meanwhile, have nothing further to do with her, insofar as you can.

Call cps or 101 before you leave for the exam and tell them that she is going to leave her kid there alone for hours

If she's at work I won't get home from my exam until at least half 1, and that's if I literally go straight from uni to the station (trains don't take long but they're hourly). I showed her my exam timetable on my phone and had to yank it back because she nearly slapped the thing out of my hand. My mum lives with me but she has work from 8am to 6pm so she'll be leaving around 7am, too, meaning that the house will be empty.
I wish I had recorded the whole thing, really. I should have. I'm alone in the house right now so no one else saw. I'll talk to my tutor but I'm not sure what I would say to the police, especially since she might not even do it.
But if she does my main concern is a 6 year old being left on my doorstep for hours on Friday.

I mean I'll do my best but she literally lives next door. My brother and her daughter aren't friends or anything so it's not like we're separating them but there have been times before now when she's literally knocked on my door, asked if I could watch her kid, and brought her daughter over, all sorted in less than a minute.

I babysit my neighbour's kid. She's 6. I do it for free because it's often only an hour or so at a time, and she really is a sweet kid and they're just next door. Her mum usually gives me a pizza as thanks and we call it even. Her mum is a single mum and works all the time. I usually just watch the kid on weekends but she goes to school with my brother, although they're in different years, so every now and again I'll help her mum out by taking her to and from school when I take my brother.
They have a non pupil day coming up and on that day my brother is going to our grandparent's house. On that day I also have an exam worth 40% of my grade for one of my modules.
Her mum came over and knocked on my door earlier and asked me if I could watch her daughter on the non pupil day. I said that I was very sorry, but I have an exam that day, one that failing or not attending will result in me failing the module. Because this exam was at 9 and I had to take a train to get there, I'd be leaving the house at 7 and wouldn't be there to let her in, let alone watch her. She immediately snapped at me to stop lying - of course I'd be here it's a no pupil day and I'd be watching my brother anyway - and I informed her that it was a non pupil day for their school, not my uni, which was an exam day. I then told her that I wouldn't be watching my brother that day as he'd be at our grandparents house and that her kid couldn't go to my grandparents as they've never met her and can really only handle my brother. I gave her the name and number of a friend of mine who her daughter has met before who would be happy to watch her if she needs and the number of a babysitting service in the area that could also help.
The mum doesn't want any of those, says it's too short notice and her daughter likes me and she can't take the day off work to look after her kid. She ended the conversation by basically saying that on the non pupil day she was going to leave her daughter at my doorstep like she does every time I watch her then go to work and if she got home and found her daughter still on my doorstep then she'd call the police on me.
What do I do?

You've told her you won't be there. May be get your mum to call too and back you up that No one will be home. Do not answer the door before you leave in case she tries to drop the kid off early making it your responsibility. She is not going to leave a 6 year old in the street if there's any question on you being there tbh. She's probably flipping out cos she's stressed about finding a sitter she trusts and was just assuming you'd be There, no excuse to treat you like that but don't take it too seriously as she'll probably calm down later.

I would talk to your personal tutor about your concerns. Maybe telling them your issue. Your words are right here. When I find it difficult to say things in order on top of my head I write beforehand and tell them my problems in that writtern format.

You need to call social services.

If you find an abandoned child on your door step it becomes your job to call the police and report the mother for neglect.

I recommend calling social services. This is a form of neglect and threatening you. It's unacceptable behaviour from the mother.

Okay so this all happened yesterday. The mum apparently took a mental note of me saying I'd be leaving around 7 because at 6:45 her kid was on my doorstep (as opposed to the 7:30/8 o'clock time she usually drops her). I was fully prepared for her to be making an empty threat so while I did contact my tutor to let her know what was happening I only kept 111 and social services numbers on hand, prepared to ring but I didn't think I'd actually need them. When I opened my door the kid came in and I saw the mum drive off. The daughter said "my mum says thank you for looking after me and she'll be back to get me at 5 o'clock". Clearly, the daughter didn't realise what was going on. I made her breakfast because she hadn't been fed and I rang her mum. I got the same message as the kid gave me ("thanks for looking after her, I'll be home at 5"), when I mentioned the police I got multiple uses of the phrase "I'm a single mother" and she all but begged me not to but still wouldn't come back and get the kid.

After that my first call was to my tutor because it was already 7:30 and the exam was my priority. My tutor was really good about it, she asked me about the kid and said that the woman was ridiculous, she didn't blame me at all. I admitted I was reluctant to call the police, purely because I didn't know what the next step was and that while the mother was the epitome of a bad neighbour, she was a good mum (I have experience in the foster system so that put me off a bit too). I also said that I had a feeling it would just delay me leaving even more.
My tutor had some experience with social services, explained what would happen and said that if I did want to call them then that would most likely take a while and make me late so she gave me the option of arriving late to the Friday exam, saying she would talk to the moderators and basically force them to let me in whenever I showed up and give me back whatever time I missed and we could chalk it up to extenuating circumstances because she acknowledged that this was in no way my fault.
She also said that the daughter seems like a sweet kid and while she thought I should call the police, she understood why I was reluctant. She also said that she had another exam for second year on Monday (I'm first year), and would I want to instead sit a slightly different version of the exam on Monday. She said that as so many people on the course were parents/carers and worked full time she had a backup exam ready to go so if anyone missed Friday they could sit the backup on Monday. She also warned me that Monday would have different content than Friday so the last revision session she did with us where she did the best she could to heavily hint at what would be on the exam was about half as useful to me.
I don't know if this was the right thing to do but the kid didn't do anything wrong, and she gets so scared around strangers (my parents are therapists and from what I learned from them I'm pretty sure the kid has anxiety or maybe is on the spectrum but the mum won't have her tested), it took her months to warm up to me. My tutor said I had to make a decision soon so she could inform the moderators, so I told my tutor that I'd like to sit the exam Monday, thanked her for being so open about this whole thing, and decided to look after the daughter that day.
When the mum got home at 6 (not 5) the kid usually goes next door from mine to her house and that's that. I made the daughter hang back and went over first. I let the mum have it. I called her irresponsible, bordering insane, said that she was taking the p*ss, told her what she did could easily be classed as child abandonment, that she was lucky I didn't ring the police, I told her that if it wasn't for my tutor going out of her way to help me I would have had to repeat my first year of uni and would be entitled to sue her for the £9,250 I would have lost on tuition for this year. I repeated that she couldn't pull this stuff and told her next time to get a sitter, or get a relative to do it. I said that while I was willing to take her daughter to and from school after this, because it wasn't going out of my way, I would no longer babysit for her. She had no right to put me in that position, and if she ever did anything like that again I'd call CPS and the police and report her for child abandonment.
Honestly, I was really really angry at her. I don't think I've ever been this upset with another human being. It's not even the exam that gets me, it's the concept of just leaving your kid on someone else's doorstep then driving off.
I should probably add some backstory here: the reason I know about the foster care system is that when I was a kid my parents just sort of... left. I spent the ages of 6-13 in the system before being adopted by my mum and dad. I was around the age of this kid when it happened. I know I wouldn't have landed her straight in the system but I was aware that she'd be significantly closer to being placed there than she would be if I didn't call 111/CPS and like I said the mum is a bad neighbour but a good mother and I didn't want to be even partially responsible for the kid potentially winding up there.

I said that while I was willing to take her daughter to and from school after this..