A trainee Met Police officer spent hours helping two mothers and their young children after finding them sleeping rough in London, including one family outside a church.
Officer Amy Greener found one mother with four children, including a very young baby, wrapped in blankets outside a church in 2024. The woman had reportedly been forced out by her partner in Peterborough and travelled to London after being unable to get support there.
When she approached Lambeth Council for help, she was told it might not be able to assist because she did not live in the borough. With an emergency accommodation meeting still days away, Greener and a colleague spent hours contacting charities and the council to try to get the appointment brought forward.
Hours spent trying to get help
After about three hours, the officer managed to get the meeting moved to the same day and took the family to the appointment.
Greener said: “She was hunched over, cradling a tiny baby that was obviously unwell.”
The account describes this as one of two occasions when the officer helped mothers with babies off the streets after extended efforts to secure emergency support.
Second case involved mother and eight-month-old baby
On another occasion, Greener found a 24-year-old mother who had spent two nights on a bench with her eight-month-old baby. The officer, who was the same age at the time, took them to a police station and then spent eight hours calling councils and charities, many of which had already closed for the day.
Although she was told the case did not formally fall to police, she continued trying to find help. Lambeth eventually agreed to place the mother and baby in emergency accommodation for the night.
A social worker was due to help build a case for permanent housing in Peterborough, according to the account.
Mother told officer she felt desperate
During the second case, the mother told Greener she felt overwhelmed and unable to get help for her child.
Greener recalled her saying: “I feel like the only way to get my baby help is if I kill myself.”
The officer later said the shift had been long but that she felt she had made a difference. The cases highlight the difficulties faced by homeless families trying to access emergency support across council boundaries, and the role frontline officers can end up playing when immediate help is not in place.
