Dear angle98-ga;
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. In
California the law addresses leaving a child unattended as a form of
neglect. Under California Code Section 11165.2, "neglect" is the
negligent treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person
responsible for the child's welfare under circumstances indicating
harm or threatened harm to the child's health or welfare. For the
purposes of this statute "child" means a person under the age of 18
years regardless of the child?s physical or emotion maturity.
???
PENAL CODE SECTION 11164-11174.4
11165.2. As used in this article, "neglect" means the negligent
treatment or the maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for
the child's welfare under circumstances indicating harm or threatened
harm to the child's health or welfare. The term includes both acts
and omissions on the part of the responsible person.
(a) "Severe neglect" means the negligent failure of a person having
the care or custody of a child to protect the child from severe
malnutrition or medically diagnosed nonorganic failure to thrive.
"Severe neglect" also means those situations of neglect where any
person having the care or custody of a child willfully causes or
permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation
such that his or her person or health is endangered, as proscribed by
Section 11165.3, including the intentional failure to provide adequate
food, clothing, shelter, or medical care.
(b) "General neglect" means the negligent failure of a person having
the care or custody of a child to provide adequate food, clothing,
shelter, medical care, OR SUPERVISION [emphasis mine here] where no
physical injury to the child has occurred.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=11001-12000&file=11164-11174.4
???
The reason I point this out is because anything that happens to the
child while the parents are not in attendance is the parent?s
responsibility. In other words, this is the state statue under which
they would likely be charged in the event that the child got into
trouble, became a victim of a crime, committed a crime, failed to
attend school, broke curfew or became sick or injured (along with a
host of other potential scenarios too numerous to mention).
Outside of the law, assuming the unsupervised stay is not problematic
and things go well, it seems that today?s norm is to judge a child by
his individual level of maturity. Some people suggest this age is
roughly 12 years old but there is nothing set in stone with regard to
this since children mature differently. I should mention though that
the often debated and confusing issue as to whether or not a child
should be ?left home alone? is almost exclusively related to parents
leaving a mature and healthy child unattended for brief periods rarely
exceeding an eight hour work day, and NO WHERE have I seen any debate
over the question of leaving a 13 year old child with a mental
capacity of a 9 year old home alone FOR A MONTH. As a member of law
enforcement for well over 20 years myself (outside of California) I
fully support your position and level of concern here. This situation
as you have described it, does not qualify, in my opinion, as ?home
alone? in the conventional sense of the word even for the purposes of
debate, but rather an outright dangerous and irresponsible decision to
allow a child to temporarily ?LIVE ALONE?. Clearly there is an
enormous difference.
It is also important to note that in California some cities have their
own laws and ordinances regarding children left home alone and have in
fact established certain minimal ages for babysitters and the like.
You would probably do well to speak to an official in your city
government to get a clarification on the laws (if any) applicable in
your jurisdiction.
Is it illegal to leave a 13-year-old child home alone?
Perhaps not, it depends on many factors, not the least of which is
whether or not problems arise during the unsupervised period. If
problems do arise, the statutes clearly state that authorities have
the option of exercising their discretion to apply the law. Otherwise,
according to Rumyana Tassev, a Medi-Cal caseload manager for the
Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, ?California does not
have a law requiring that children be supervised until a certain age.?
4 MILLION KIDS HOME ALONE: TOTAL MAY BE HIGHER, EXPERT SAYS
http://www.childrennow.org/newsroom/news-00/ra-9-11-00.htm
Is it illegal to allow a 13-year-old child to LIVE ALONE?
I am not a lawyer and we cannot offer legal advice here, but in my
opinion and from my many years of experience, I?d have to say that
legal or not, child welfare authorities would deeply frown at this
terribly irresponsible decision, especially if things took a tragic
turn for the worst during this period.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
PENAL CODE SECTION 11164-11174.4
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=11001-12000&file=11164-11174.4
DIVORCENET
http://www.divorcenet.com/bbs/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=casupport&main=69266&type=thread
4 MILLION KIDS HOME ALONE: TOTAL MAY BE HIGHER, EXPERT SAYS
http://www.childrennow.org/newsroom/news-00/ra-9-11-00.htm
CALIFORNIA CODE
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
HOME ALONE
CALIFORNIA
MINOR
JUVENILE
CHILD
LAW
STATUTE
WELFARE
UNSUPERVISED
NEED OF SUPERVISION |
