leaving a child home alone?

[MOMMYOF2BOYZ]

what is the age in pennsylvania or are all states the same ?that you can leave a child home alone?

i'm not sure anyone know?

[freeby4me]

Last I heard a 12 year old is old enough to babysit so any child 12 or over would not need a babysitter, but that depends on how mature the child is.

[buttrfli]

I think legally it depends on the state. My best friend got her kids taken by CPS for leaving them home alone to go to the store and they were 12 & 10.

No way I would let a 12 y/o babysit my kids. They just aren't mature enough... I don't care what their parents say LOL

[myashley89]

my oldest dd is 13 and I still won't leave her alone at home , let alone in charge of the other 3 lol

[Eyore]

This is about all I can find for PA. You could also call the Police Dept or State Police and ask them also. I think we started leaving our son home alone at age 12 but only for short periods of time until we knew how he would do on his own. Once we saw he was doing ok then we would leave him for longer periods of time. He also had our cell phone number so he could get intouch with us if he needed to. My daughter was probably about the same age when we started leaving her alone as well.


http://pennfamilylaw.com/2007/04/05/at-what-age-can-children-be-left-alone/


At What Age Can Children Be Left Alone?
Published April 5th, 2007 General Family Law , parenting , Children

All parents at some point face the difficult question of whether their children are old enough to be left alone at home. Dustin Jones of All Things Pennsylvania Family Law had this interesting post on this question:

A reader stumped me last week with the following question: “At what age can children be legally left alone to care for themselves?”

Since this site deals with family law issues, I assume his question is related to custody issues and/or Children Protective Services.

Here is the answer:

There are no laws or regulations in Pennsylvania stating at what age children may be left without adult supervision. When workers from the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families check into reported cases — about 20 a month, with roughly a third of those substantiated — their main concern is the degree of risk to the children.

How long they’re left alone, whether they’re able to care for themselves and handle emergencies, if they have support nearby — all these factors play into the CYF assessment. If the children are determined to be in peril, intervention could range from assisting the family to removing the children.

“As a rule of thumb, no child under the age of 12 should be left home alone under any circumstances,” said Marcia Sturdivant, deputy director of CYF. But, she conceded, the world we live in doesn’t always work that way.

Source for post: All Things Pennsylvania Family Law
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[SLance68]

In Florida it is 13 - only know because my best friend works for one of the Sheriff's Offices. I would of thought 12 would be acceptable but was surprised that it is 13.

[MsLynn]

in oklahoma, DHS stops paying for anykind of child care when they turn 13, so i would assume that 13 is the age in oklahoma, you might check with your child services department.

[nanajoanie]

For being home alone 12 is fine if the child is responsible and you have left your cellphone number or other emergency numbers writen down for your child to see by the phone. I would make sure my child knows to get out during a fire which wouldn't be from cooking. I wouldn't allow cooking when they were home alone, not even nuker popcorn. For babysitting here in NC it's 12 with only 1 younger sibling. 12 is fine with me for other folks kidlettes for babysitting 1. 14 is about right to babysit more than 1, maybe 2.