How to report a hoarder with children involved
Hey all! I (26F) moved out of my moms house when I was 18. All my life my moms house was messy. I would try to clean spaces of the house to make it livable for me. I kept my bedroom livable. Of course as a kid I'd have clothes on the floor, but for the most part my room was clean. Once my mom married my step dad and we moved to a new house, thats when the hoarding really became apparent. The 2 car garage was full of new stuff my step dad bought on sale. Not organized. Just mountains of random things like faucets and fog lights piled from floor to ceiling. Impossible to walk through the garage. You'd need to move things around just to walk through. The inside of the house was pretty bad too. It was mountains of stuff everywhere. I knew the house was hoarded and was too embarrassed to say anything or have any friends over. I just kept my room clean and worked hard to keep some areas of the house livable - the bathroom, kitchen, hallways.
When I turned 18 I moved out of the house. At this point I should mention I have younger siblings (12F, 8M, 4M). My sister got my room when I left the house and my 2 brothers shared 1 room. I was at college and never visited home. If I did come home, I'd stay at my grandmas house not my moms house, so I never really saw how bad the house was. Jumping forward a few years, I stopped by the house to see my younger brothers. When I opened the door, I was in shock and immediately had the worst panic attack of my life. There was mountains of stuff from floor to ceiling, tiny paths you could barely walk through, groceries rotting in bags on the kitchen floor, you couldn't see any of the furniture - including a dining room table set and couches. They placed a SQUIRREL TRAP to catch something in the house. Yes you read that right, A SQUIRREL TRAP. They had stuff covering the sink and the stove. I needed to leave right away because my anxiety made me feel like I was having a heart attack from just being in the house. A few days passed and I talked to my mom about this situation. I told her I'm scared for their safety, if there was a fire it would be devastating because the exits are blocked. She kept saying how she was a bad mother and guilt tripping me about leaving for college - how she couldn't maintain the house. Unfortunately that conversation never really stuck with her. I've been thinking about that house often and the emotional damage its done to me. I know the house is worse now and I keep thinking about what its doing to my siblings. Of course I still feel like I can't tell anyone about this because I'm embarrassed.
Jumping ahead to this Easter (2026). I'm 26, only my 2 younger brothers are still in that house (16 and 12). A few days before Easter my mom invited me to come over for Easter. In my mind I thought this meant the house was clean. We'd have a meal at the dinning room table and it would be a normal Easter. Boy was I wrong. Pulling up to the house you can tell something is off. Theres old appliances and laundry baskets sitting outside. I walked in the house and it was still hoarded. All that had been done was stuff was pushed to the side to set up a folding table. We awkwardly stood around a folding table. There was mountains of stuff around us we were all scared to bump because it'd all come crashing down. I'm in therapy now to help me with my anxiety but that day was a huge challenge for me. I keep thinking about my 2 brothers who still live in that house. They have no friends. They have mental health things but aren't getting help. Its been over a month now since Easter and I've thought about it every day. Do I finally report them? I want my brothers to not go through the emotional/mental trauma I did. If I report them, would my mom know it was me or is there a way to stay anonymous? Would it help the situation or make it worse?
I'm at such a loss of what to do. I have no idea who to contact in this situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.