911, What's your emergency?

Kids were having a friend sleep-over last night.  When they came back from  getting A's stuff from his house, they had 2 extra kids in tow.  Kids were pleasant.  I asked where they lived and they told me that their dad had dropped them off near A's house and told them to stay with him.  That's fine but, A's mom wasn't warned.  A is 8 and these kids are 8 and 9.  The Father would have no idea that they were at my house.

As it started to get dark, I called A's mom to get more info on these kids.  She said she had met the father once or twice, and the kids had been dropped off before at her house on another occasion, unannounced.
They are classmates of A's and their Uncle lives close by.

I questioned the kids as to whether their uncle was home and they said he had left with their dad.  I asked them if ANYONE was home and they didn't know.  So we went to find out.

On the way over I found out that they were with their dad for the Summer but regularly lived with their mom.  I got her number and tried calling... no one would answer.

We knocked several times on the uncles door and no one answered.  The kids walked around back and could see their Aunt and cousins inside.  We knocked and knocked again, and then I called the police.

Just as I was explaining the situation to the operator, a woman answered the door.  I asked if the kids could come in. She seemed hesitant, but allowed them in.

I told the operator that they had been let in and that everything seemed to be ok but they may want to send someone to check..

An officer called to get the story.  I told him what had had happened and he asked if they were inside.  When I told them they were, he said, "Good enough for me,"

I'm sure it's not the last we will see of these children.

I feel awful that they think this is normal parenting behavior.