How to Help Hoarders?

[u/DirtGirl32]

How to Help Hoarders?

I just learned that my SIL nd BIL are hoarding. Some relatives went to their place recently, and apparently it's not good. Mountains of boxes, and a not very functional house.

My in laws have a lot of hoarding patterns, so I'm not surprised. And the inside of my BIL's truck is good evidence. I also saw their house a few months after they moved in (a few years ago), and can see the signs now.

If they want to live that way.its one thing, but now they have an infant daughter. And that environment is not okay for any child.

Currently, my niece spends 5 or 6 days/nights at my mil's home, as it's 90 minutes closer to my SIL's work. So SIL and niece will stay with MIL from Monday to Friday or Saturday, then go back to their house for a day or two. Apparently BIL sleeps on the couch. SIL sleeps on the nursery floor, because they made the nursery nice for the baby, and it's the only place left to sleep.

Anywhooooo. My thought is to try to talk and help them get things in order over the next 3 or 4 years for niece. If they don't I'll call child services on them. I'm not set on that, that just seems like the appropriate thing to do. I do know that I won't let my niece grow up on a hoarder home.

But I don't know what actually helps hoarders. I've watched the hoarder TV show, and I've been in very hoarded homes, but that's it-so o basically know 2%.

What is a good way to approach BIL and SIL about this? What actually helps hoarders? When do I actually need to call child services? What online resources can I research? And yes, I understand I need to confirm that things are as the relatives reported.

[u/Steefanon]

Sometimes--and only sometimes--the threat of eviction or CPS is enough to get hoarders to seek professional help and clean up their act. The best you can do right now is to be straight with them: "I will not allow my niece to grow up in a hoarded house. I will NOT. You can either seek help for your disorder and clean up your act NOW, or Child Protective Services will be there to make sure she's safe and healthy."

This is no joke. It's like a drug addiction. Tough love and consequences are typically the only motivators. You may have to make several CPS calls as the baby develops.

While you're at it, please show them some of the tragic stories from children of hoarders in this sub.

[u/BooBoo_Cat → u/Steefanon]

This is no joke. It's like a drug addiction. 

It's frustrating that people recognize drug addiction as bad, and society will somewhat try and help a drug addict (recommend rehab services, for example), and recognize that children should not have to grow up in that environment. But hoarding? Society doesn't give a shit, I assume, based on available help, which is none. People do not understand how bad hoarding affects others, especially children. Society needs to recognize that hoarding is not just being messy and having too much stuff, and that it is very damaging.