CA: Is there a legal minimum age where you can leave kids in car/home?

[Spede]

Anyone?

Online search has turned up nothing definitive for California.

My kids are 8 and 7.

Can I leave them at home for a short period of time?

Can I leave them in the car to run into the post office?

[968rz]

I found this on Google answers...
CALIFORNIA CODES PENAL CODE SECTION 11165, and
CALIFORNIA CODES PENAL CODE SECTION 11165.2(b)

For the purposes of this statute, CALIFORNIA CODES PENAL CODE SECTION
11165 defines a child as “a person under the age of 18 years".

In addressing GENERAL NEGLECT in SUBSECTION 11165.2(b) the statute
states:
"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 where no physical injury to the
child has occurred.”

The operative word here under the color of California law is
“supervision”, or more specifically, the lack thereof. Technically,
any child under the age of 18 left unsupervised COULD raise the
suspicion of authorities that the child is being neglected. This,
however, usually does not come into play until and unless someone
lodges a complaint or the child exhibits delinquent behavior resulting
in a criminal (illegal) or status (an act that is only considered
illegal because the offender is a minor – possession of alcohol,
truancy, runaway, etc) offense.

CALIFORNIA CODES PENAL CODE SECTION 11165.2(b)is the crime in which a
parent or guardian may be charged citing GENERAL NEGLECT and/or CHILD
IN NEED OF SUPERVISION.

no real mention of an age but I know here (Wisconsin) a 12 year old and baby set another so that seems a good age. IF the kid's responsible there should be no issue at 8-10 (imho)

[island911]

hooray for the Nanny state

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Spede

Anyone?

Online search has turned up nothing definitive for California.

My kids are 8 and 7.

Can I leave them at home for a short period of time?

Can I leave them in the car to run into the post office?

Depends on how mature they are. Personally I think 8 may be a bit young but all kids are different so YMMV. Also depends on how far away you will be and for how long.

We started leaving the kids at home last year when my daughter was 10 and the boy 7. But that is only if we are at a neighbors house.

Leave them in a car? Never. Even if you take the keys they may get bored and find the cigarette lighter and use it to brand the leather seats.

Ask my mother how i know.

[A930Rocket]

Maybe we were over protective, but we didn't leave them alone until they were about 12 and 10 to dash out and back in for an hour or two. Lots of calls home checking in.

Of course, growing up, we were alone much earlier and walking home to/from school or friends houses.

[David]

Not what you asked, but in Texas there is no minimum age for being left alone although I'm sure CPS would take the kids if you left really young kids alone.

Texas does set the age at which a non-relative can watch another child at 13.

[Spede]

I hate how soft our society has become. I remember being a latch-key kid in the first grade when I was 6 years old. Then again, that was in the 70's.

[Noah930]

I have nothing to back it up (I haven't bothered to do any sort of search), but I thought the rule in CA was the age of 12.

[John Rogers]

As Spede said, that was the 70's and as politically correct as the A-holes that run things want to be, I would NOT leave anyone at home under 18 unless they can be really trusted. To find out if they are, get a "nanny cam" or run the web cam on your PC and do an errand or two. All it takes now is a phone call from an unhappy neighbor or something else and the cops are there!

[campbellcj]

I'd worry more about a teenager than a mature pre-teen or 'tween'. Our son just turned 10 (today in fact) and we are comfortable leaving him for short periods to go to the supermarket or whatnot. He is a responsible kid who knows not to wander off, open the door for strangers, etc. He's got a cell phone with everyone's numbers programmed and knows how to use it.

Now, when he or his sister are 13-17, I figure I'll be MORE reluctant to have them unsupervised. Thinking back to when I was that age makes me anxious!

[RWebb]

12 is common - not sure re Calif - you could always find the state child welfare ageny's web site and see if it is there

or ask via Email

a moment or two might not trigger the statute or regulation; but why can't the kid go in with you?


these laws are there because children have died horrible deaths - some might call that a nanny state

[jyl]

We started leaving our kids at home for an hour or so when my daughter was 11-ish and my son was 7-ish. They are responsible kids, were instructed to not answer the door, have our phone numbers memorized, and they don't play with fire etc. We started leaving my son alone for a few hours at a time when he was about 9 y/o. Same instructions, we'd tell the neighbor and she'd pay attention to the house for us. It worked(s) for us, it depends on the kid.

I was a latchkey kid, we lived in Paris when I was 6 y/o, I had a fistful of metro tickets and explored the city by myself all day. This was back when, of course, and France was (is) a pretty safe place.

I started sending my kids, together, to the nearest grocery store (6 blocks, all residential, no big streets), when they were about 12 y/o and 8 y/o.

[DavidI]

At that young age, I would not leave them alone in the car. What if someone stole your car with them in it? It has happened several times.

[Spede]

Originally Posted by DavidI

At that young age, I would not leave them alone in the car. What if someone stole your car with them in it? It has happened several times.

Thanks David! Is that your "professional" opinion?

Hope the family is well.

[Rick Lee]

Geeze, when I was a kid, I'm pretty sure my folks left me home alone to babysit my sister and do chores when I was 8. We had a swimming pool and my allowance depended on my maintaining it and the yard. Because our yard was hilly and we had a self-propelled push mower, that was my job too. They put my sister and me to work cleaning the house a lot too. We didn't have time to get into trouble, since the house had to be clean when they got home. No cell phones in those days and we lived out in the sticks. Somehow we made it.

[JavaBrewer]

I remember walking to elementary school by myself and being a latchkey kid as both parents worked FT jobs.

We associate with a circle of ~ 5 families all with kids similar in age (11-14 yr) and it seems we all started leaving our kids home w/o adults at 10 yr for stretches of no more than 2 hrs. By 12 yr we comfortably left them for 4 hrs. We rarely go longer than that. We car pool the kids exclusively but my son starts HS this year and he is going to ride his bicycle at least 3x a week. He complains about the BIG uphill coming home (it is damn big) and I counter with the BIG downhill on the way to school LOL.

[campbellcj]

Just like a lot of you others who grew-up in the 70's (or earlier), I remember not being left home so much as being OUTSIDE virtually all the time after school or during summer. Walked to school alone or with other kids most days, no adults around. BMX, skateboarding, wrist rockets & BB guns, hiking/exploring, and just general goofing off. We used to literally ride our bikes miles from home and Mom didn't seem to worry too much as long as she had a decent idea who we were with and when we'd be home.

All of that is totally unheard of now, at least around here, it's all about structured activities and incessant contact via cellphone (if not Facebook). Are we better off this way? I'm not so sure.

[Rick Lee]

Yup, that's how I spent my days when I wasn't doing chores. We lived in the middle of nowhere and my friends and I rode our bikes with bb guns across the handlebars everywhere. Amazing the stuff we did and never got seriously hurt. No cell phones, no gps trackers and I had never even seen a bicycle helmet until I watched a race on cable tv in a hotel room when I was about 11. I think I even ran with scissors once in a while. Oh, and the fireworks. Oh, the fireworks.

[campbellcj]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Oh, and the fireworks. Oh, the fireworks.

LOL, now I'm having flashbacks to all the stuff we burned or blew-up. I recall once building several plastic ship models, fairly elaborate, just so we could stage a big battle in a neighbor's pond and blow them up with M80's and various fireworks.

[Rick Lee]

I still have a piece of brass in my shoulder from the time we pumped the bb gun about 70 times and then put a live .308 round from my buddy's brother's rifle on top of the bb gun barrel. Man, that was loud with our heads about a foot away. That night at dinner his mom noticed a bloody hole in my shirt I hadn't even seen. She butterflied it for me and it was our secret. Still have a nice scar from that one.