Answer Man: Proper age to leave a kid at home alone?
Readers ask what is the proper age to leave a kid at home alone.
Answer Man: Proper age to leave a kid at home alone? Readers ask what is the proper age to leave a kid at home alone. Check out this story on citizen-times.com: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/07/22/answer-man-proper-age-leave-kid-home-alone/1760725001/
John Boyle, Asheville Citizen Times Published 5:00 a.m. ET July 22, 2019
The 1990 movie "Home Alone" featured a child accidentally left at home while his parents went on vacation. (Photo: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox)
Question: What are the laws regarding kids being home alone while parents are working? (The reader forwarded a Facebook post in which a local mother said her ex-husband has been leaving kids, ages 9 and 10, at home for up to 8 hours while he works. One child has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and the mother was looking for "some kind of codes for the city or state).
My answer: When my kids were little, we just put "Teletubbies" on a loop and gave the young'uns an open box of cereal and we were good to go. That show was strangely mesmerizing.
Real answer: So first of all, this one gets complicated, and if you're in any kind of legal or custody situation, please contact an attorney for advice. I know it's tempting to take legal advice from a newspaper columnist with an English degree, but I really do not recommend it.
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I went to Buncombe County's Department of Health and Human Services, which provided an answer from Social Work Director Rebecca Smith.
Smith copied the "entire supervision section of the North Carolina Child Welfare Child Protective Services Intake Manual, which outlines the criteria for screening in a report for child maltreatment based on supervision concerns." She included the flow chart in the email.
"As you can see under section I., 'no legal age for when a child can stay at home alone has been established; however, North Carolina fire code specifies that children under age eight should not be locked or confined,'" Smith said.
So technically, you could leave a child age 9 and older alone, but a lot of variables come into play, and it often could be a very bad idea.
The questions social workers use to assess whether a child may be in jeopardy are outlined in the flow chart, and they "are important and could be used as a guide for parents to assess whether or not their (children) are developmentally at a stage where they can stay safely at home alone," Smith said.
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The flow chart offers these questions:
"Is the parent/caretaker leaving a child 8 years of age or younger with no supervision?"
If the answer is yes, the department accepts that case for a CPS assessment. If the answer is no, they ask this question: Is the parent/caretaker placing the responsibility for supervision with a child who is not capable of providing supervision?"
A "yes" means a CPS assessment, a no means you ask, "Is the parent/caretaker's choice or style of supervision placing the child at risk?"
Again, a "yes" points to a CPS assessment, while a "no" points to this paragraph:
"This decision tree is not all inclusive in regards to the screening of improper supervision reports. There may be situations where you answer no to these questions, but accept the report and begin an Investigative Assessment due to other information obtained during intake."
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Under that first question, the flow chart mentions the Fire Code age 8 notation, and states that a "report alleging a child under age six" being left alone requires an immediate response. It also offers some excellent questions to ask about a child being left at home in general, stating, "The length of time the child is left alone, along with the child's age, and cognitive abilities factor into whether the child can be safely left alone."
It continues: "Some important questions to ask are: Is the child afraid to stay at home alone? Is the child providing care for siblings? Does the child know how to contact emergency personnel? How long is the child being left alone? Is the child in an isolated area?"
The Raleigh-based Felton Banks Law Firm weighed in on the subject in December 2017, (http://www.feltonbanks.com/lawblog/2017/12/18/at-what-age-can-a-child-be-left-home-alone) quickly noting the fire code information. "North Carolina General Statute section 14-318 states that a parent or legal guardian cannot leave a child under the age of eight (8) locked or confined, unsupervised, in any dwelling, building, etc. as to expose the child to danger by fire. To violate the statute is a Class 1 misdemeanor. There is only 1 class higher than that."
"So, I can leave my nine (9) year old home alone then, great!" the article continues. "Let's pump the brakes on that thought for a minute. Although leaving a nine year old home alone is not a violation of the aforementioned statute, it may have negative implications as it pertains to a custody case."
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The author offers three reasons for that:
"A. you may have a 9-year-old that has not reached the level of maturity to that of his peers, B. the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services have a deeper evaluation than just the fire code statute, and C. a Family Court Judge may not agree that your child is the type that should be left home alone (that goes back to maturity)."
The firm also points out that they are not offering legal advice via the article.
And neither am I!
This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com
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