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I don’t want to call CPS, but…

I need some advice. Almost every morning, I wake up to the sounds of the woman across the back alley from my apartment screaming at her kids like I have never heard anyone scream before. She calls them idiots, retards, dumb-asses, swears at them, tells them to shut up, etcetera, on a daily basis. I have been wondering what my responsibility is in this situation for a few months now, but this morning it was really terrible.

I’m pretty sure I heard the woman hit one of her kids twice, and then heard the kid screaming and saying “she hit me.” On top of all this, the place is just teeming with trash. I know Child Protective Services can be really disruptive, traumatic, and can even land kids in situations as bad as or worse than the one they were already in. I would rather notify an organization that would empower the mother so she could stop taking out her lack of control on her kids. I want to do something, but I’m so scared of doing the wrong thing and hurting that family more than helping them. Any suggestions?