How old do you think kids can be in order to be left alone for several hours (yes, I know maturity matters - but pretend you are CPS).
The children are 11 yrs old and 6 yrs old.
I do not think there is a law that adresses this.
In my OPINION (depending on maturity) I would say I will not leave my child alone until they are 14-15.
I would never leave a 6 y.o. alone. An 11 y.o. may be OK for a short time BUT an 11 y.o. is NOT old enough to be responsible for a 6 y.o.
JMO
in VA its 13 with red cross class 15 without
This is such a coincidence!
My sister's children are 11 years old and 6 years old. She thinks that it is ok to leave her children unattended and we live in a rural area. I personally do not believe that it is a safe situation. Ofcourse my son is now 7 years old and I still would not allow a teenager to watch him and he has never been in daycare.
As for cps...I don't think they would do anything about it unless it was late at night and the children were left repeatedly for extended periods of time. BTW we're in CA.
I'm just curious...are they your children?
My DH's ex. Leaving them first with a man we know nothing about and secondly leaving them unattended for hours. We are CP and this is during her EOW.
I don't think that you can do anything about her leaving the kids with someone that you don't know unless you can prove that he is a danger to the children. As for leaving them unattended for hours...try calling CPS and asking them if it is endagerment. If they say yes then report it.
What I would recommend is to let the kids know that if it happens, EVERY time it happens, they need to call you and let you know. Then you call the cops and tell them you want a 'welfare check' done on them, as they have called you and told you they are alone. The cops will go and check on them. IF the cops think that the children are in imminent danger, they will remove the children and contact both you and CPS. But if not, they will try to contact the NCP and get them to come home and explain themselves.
Get enough of these reports and you establish a pattern of neglect. And pray that nothing 'bad' happens while all this is going on...........
I agree. That sounds like a great idea.
this man is going to be her new husband, and the kids don't even know him. And he is an immigrant. When you tell your kids you are getting married, they shouldn't have to ask you to whom, should they? At this point, we don't even have the man's name.
I can tell you CPS considers the age pretty low. DH's ex used to leave the kids home for a few hours while she "ran errands" when they were 11,8 and 8 (twins). CPS didn't see a problem with it unless it was hurting the children in some way.
several hours at a time. They are not allowed to make any calls or answer the phone during this time.
Fortunately they've moved, for the last 2 summers they lived on a river and the kids were only 9 and 7.
We called CPS and in WIS there is no age limit. If the parent feels they are mature enough then its just not a problem.
Ex works almost an hour from their home, and they live over 2 hours for us. It's very hard for us to do anything about it.
You mean to tell me that they can't even call 911????? Sooner or later, something is going to happen. The law of averages proves that. Someone may be lurking around outside, someone who has been watching and KNOWS that they are home alone. What if they get scared? What if someone tries to break in? Do they have elec. or gas heat? Do they have smoke and CO2 detectors? If not, do they know what the signs of CO2 poisoning is and what to do/not to do about it? What if it's the dead of winter and the furnace or elec. goes out?
See, there are MANY unknowns here and for them to be ordered NOT to use the phone frightens me to the core. They can talk to a school official, if they think they might get in trouble talking to you about it. But they MUST talk to someone about those 'rules'. Because that is severe negligence in my book.
Is there any time you know or suspect that they are home alone? Try calling and, even tho you're certain they will not pick it up, then call the local sheriff's office, tell them of your suspicions, that they would not answer the phone, but you're certain they are there alone and are very concerned for them. They will get address and contact info from you, go out to investigate, talk to the kids, deem whether they are in 'imminent danger', contact the mom and demand that she come home immediately to talk to them, let you know disposition of the call, then file a report. That way it takes the kids completely out of the equation of reporting to anyone.
BUT even doing this once is likely to rouse the ire of the BM. CPS says that as long as the parents are okay with it, they are?? Well, what are you, chopped liver? ;-) No, you do NOT agree with it as a parent, hence your reason for talking to them about it.
There's always more than one way to skin a kitty, I always say.........where there's a will , there's a way. I just wouldn't want to take the chance that the law of averages would eventually catch up to them and something horrible happens while they are alone. For sure, she'd go away for a VERY long time for it, but the kids would either be dead or severely injured because of it. We're talking 'prevention' here....
And as you can tell, it's also one of my pet peeves..........
You should check the state law. I know in the state where my divorce is going through they say it is illegal if the child is under 12. All the schools have contracted with local daycare to provide after school care for kids up to 12 now.
my son is 12, he has been staying home alone after school for 2hrs (when not at sports practice) since he was 10 (we live in a dead end with lots of stay home parents so he is usually hanging out at their house)
Now my ss who is 9 no way would I leave him alone, he is not mature enough to do so, he has no street smarts and isn't to aware of his surroundings (but he is getting much better)
I will leave him alone for a short period of time if I have to run to the store, but usually not to long. It really depends on the parent(s), maturity of the child and the area you live in.
Now I can tell you IF we lived where my dh's ex did no way in hell would I leave him alone no no no, so their are so many different factors
**These are my opinions, they are not legal advice**