Welcome to Gaia! ::

For the last few months, I've been hearing things from one of the neighboring apartments. It's usually a woman's voice screaming, often saying things like "Shut up" and a young child screaming. The child sounds older than a baby, but definitely not above toddlerhood. The screams are unbearable. I can't listen to them. He/she sounds so terrified.

The two of them will go at it all the time. Sometimes, I will wake up in the middle of the night and they will be screaming at each other.

Sometimes there's a man's voice as well. He'll shout something and there's usually some banging.

I totally understand getting frustrated and venting. I know my husband and I can sometimes get very... vocal during fights. It's just the frequency with which I hear this.

I don't know which apartment it's coming from. I'm pretty sure it's not in any of the ones right next to me, but I hear it coming from the pipes in the bathroom and from the heating system in the bedroom. Because of this, I don't even know which direction it's coming from. This building has four floors and a lot of apartments.

I don't know what to do. Should I call someone and say "it's somewhere in this building and I think they might be abusive?" I mean, I have no evidence of abuse. As far as I know, I've never even seen them. I don't know what's going on, maybe this is just how they play basketball or something. I don't want to risk having someone's child taken away because I was too nosey when it was innocent. We're all human, we all shout, maybe that's all that goes on. And even if I did call someone, what could they do? At best, I can only give the building.

Is there like someone who oversees the apartments who you can speak to? Or neighbors whom you can discuss this with to see if they know anything? At least then you might be able to figure out which apartment it's coming from.

I'd definitely get someone involved. It's one thing to know that a child is getting abused and be able to do something about it, but another to think they are and not do anything through fear that you could be wrong, and it ends up that you're right.

Even if you do end up being wrong, at least your mind will be at ease that you've done the right thing for the child in question.