Nicole, I agree with Angie.. call anomymously! A few years ago I used to live in an apartment building that was locked. You had to have a key to get into the building, and you weren't allowed to make copies of the keys. There was this mom that would lock her son out of the building every single day, and of course he didn't have a key to get back in. One day he was sitting on the step outside the building, totally sunburned and wearing the same dirty clothes that he had on every day that week. I asked him if he wanted me to let him in and he said no because his mom doesn't want him to come home until it's dark outside. (It was only about 3pm!!) I felt sooo bad for him! I asked him if he had anything for lunch and he said no, he eats breakfast and supper. I took him to my house and fed him and gave him milk and water, and called child protection later on after he left. I just said I was a concerned resident of the building, but I did not want to give my name. I'm sure the mom could figure out who it was because I fed the boy, but nonetheless, it took what seemed like a really long time (over a month maybe) but eventually the boy was gone and the mother eventually moved out of the building, too. I have no idea what happened to either of them after that, but I asked the building manager, who I had become friendly with, and she said that the mother lost her government assistance after she had her son put into foster care and she had to move out of the building.
So, long story short, there is nothing bad that could come out of it if you try to help the family out.
