Board wants proof a resident is taking a parenting class?

This board has a history of "picking on" one resident for noise violations, which most often involve her yelling at her pre-teen son. She is a single mom, and many of the people in our small (10 unit) complex do not care for her nor do they hide the fact.

Most recently, a hearing was held to discuss complaints that someone heard her yelling at her son. The windows to her unit were open, so it wouldn't have been difficult for someone in the common area to hear it as they walked by.

In the hearing, she mentioned the frustration that comes with raising a child alone and said she was learning how to better deal with her frustration by taking a parenting class offered through her health care provider.

The board has asked her to provide proof of this. There won't be a receipt other than her insurance co-pay. This is not exactly a health related issue, but can a board ask a resident to provide proof of something this personal?

I looked through Davis-Stirling and can't find anything as it relates to this type of request.

Thank you!

The resident has been fined, and this was the 2nd noise related incident. The resident has shown positive improvement, so I'm not sure why someone feels the need to see "proof" of taking a class.

The police were called once, and the resulting investigation proved the call was unwarranted.

I, too, agree that the Board has no right to require proof that she's taking a parenting class.

Parents yell at kids. It seems to me that the problem is if the yelling's frequency continuously disturbs others' quiet enjoyment of their homes.

If there seems to be abuse too, Child Protective Services (in CA) should be contacted.

Out of curiosity, is this the only child in your HOA, Jennifer?

I hope that you will praise the mom for her efforts and say a kind word now & then to her son too.

It might be that the neighbor with two little children who complains a lot might not like her kids having to listen to the yelling.

Alas! Children don't come with instruction books!

Great idea, I love it!! : D

Quite right, you spend the first two years teaching a child to walk and talk and the next sixteen yelling at them to sit down and shut up.

I find it a bit troubling that the police were called (by whom?) and found the call was unwarranted and then CPA was called and found nothing amiss.

Unless both of those agencies are not doing their job, your HOA could be accused of arbitrary enforcement.

If your board is supporting the direct neighbor who came and suggested she move, you might be in trouble.

I agree with Brian that the parenting class and even asking for proof of a parenting class is too much. The board has overstepped their authority and if that's the way they want to play it...then Brian's suggested approach (and argument) should be followed.

We had a neighbor with a garage band (and not a good one) and we also had neighbors with crying kids and a neighbor who broke up with his girlfriend one long, long night. Then there were the neighbors outside of the condo who had dogs regularly barking at 2-4 a.m. When one unidentified neighbor complained about our dogs it seemed more retaliatory than reasonable.

We were discriminated against, but when we called the police it was because the lead board director stole our signs and the sign of our real estate agent. We also lived in a 10-unit condo in Los Angeles County. We moved, but we also were paid a large settlement by the insurance company.

If the woman is being singled out by the board and you are calling agencies against her without good reason, then what's happening could be called harassment.

As for mandated reporting to CPS (child protection services and not CPA), here is what California law states:

Child abuse must be reported
when one who is a legally mandated
reporter “...has knowledge of or
observes a child in his or her profes-
sional capacity, or within the scope of
his or her employment whom he or
she knows or reasonably suspects
has been the victim of child abuse or
neglect...” (P.C. 11166(a)).

Note that it says "in his or her professional capacity, or within the scope of his or her employment" and not as a neighbor or volunteer.

For more information on Child Protective Services in California, you can go to this link.

If the only complaint is yelling and you don't mention the hours being too late or too early, then I don't even see why the police were called. It probably doesn't help the woman that one person has been after this woman since before he had kids or that someone has openly told her to move. The board doesn't seem to be moving toward making the environment less hostile, but supporting a more hostile environment.