6-yo Home Alone

[crayiii]

I spoke with my 6 year old son yesterday who lives in Washington State and has been sick for the last 8 days and not attending school.  He told me that he has been staying home by himself while his mom is at work.  This concerned me as I do not believe he is mature enough to be left by himself for what turned out to be 3 hours.

I tried talking to his mom but she just told me to "f-off" so I called to talk to CPS.  CPS told me that Washington State has no limits on the age a child can be left alone and it has to do with maturity level.  

After talking to me, CPS called the police department who called my ex to talk about it.  She told them it was only for 30-minutes and then she called me and cussed me out.

I have his school attendance records that show his absence and I'm sure her timesheets would show when she was at work.

My questions:

1. Would a resonable person think that 6 years old is old enough to be home alone?

2. If proven, will this help me eventually get a custody reversal?

3. Is there anything else I can do to have this looked into?

4. Does this make me look like a trouble maker?  Should I have just left it alone?

[socrateaser]

>My questions:
>
>1. Would a resonable person think that 6 years old is old
>enough to be home alone?

Six years old is ridiculously young to be left unsupervised.

>2. If proven, will this help me eventually get a custody
>reversal?

It could, but good luck proving it. The mother won't continue this behavior, now that she knows she's at risk. But, if you had said nothing, the risk to the child would have been greater.

Don't make this about reversing custody -- it will just make you miserable. It's about your kid's safety, nothing else.

>
>3. Is there anything else I can do to have this looked into?

Nope. You've done all you can do for the moment. Now you'll have to wait to see if mom shoots her leg off by continuing the behavior, and having the child injured in some obvious way as a consequence.

>4. Does this make me look like a trouble maker?  Should I have
>just left it alone?

I would have started with a letter to the mom, stating that your son expressed fear about being home alone. That way you would have been on record about it, and you could continue to gently complain over time until you finally decided that it was too dangerous to leave alone.

This would have made CPS's job easier. But, you jumped to the heavy artilliary and so your element of surprise is lost.

I wouldn't be too concerned about how you look to the government, or to your ex. All that matters is how you are perceived by your son. The rest is just details.