Child abuse and neglect experts’ determination of when a child being left home alone constitutes child neglect

Abstract

BackgroundOnly 14 states have laws or guidelines regarding the minimum age a child may be left home alone. These ages range from 6 to 14 years. Our objective was to identify factors that influence child neglect determination by experts with regards to parents leaving children home alone.MethodsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics Section on Child Abuse and Neglect members (N = 523) were surveyed from July–August, 2015. Respondents were asked whether scenarios involving a child of varying age knowingly left home alone for 4 h were neglect in the presence or absence of injury to the child and the legality of the situation. Comparisons were performed using the chi-square test.ResultsOne hundred ninety-three members responded (36.9%). In the scenario where there were no relevant laws and the child was uninjured, nearly 100% of the child experts determined this as being child neglect when the child was 6 years old. For 8, 10, 12, and 14 year olds, this was 88, 48, 4, and 1%, respectively. However, a significantly higher percentage of experts considered it child neglect for most ages when there was a law making the scenario illegal as compared when there was no law, and when the child was injured versus when they were not. The only demographic variable that showed a difference in child neglect determination was that females were more likely to consider higher aged children as having been neglected when there were no laws but the child was injured. The vast majority of experts (85%) stated that leaving a child home alone for 4 h should be illegal if the child is < 9 years old, and nearly one-half (44%) said it should be illegal for children < 11 years old.ConclusionsA number of factors affect how experts view children being left home alone as potential child neglect. Our data suggests that such cases may be evaluated differently due to variations in state laws, even though the risk to the child is the same. These results call for child safety law reform to provide greater uniformity in the evaluation of potential child neglect cases and better protect the safety of children.

Adolescent Neglect and Health Risk

“…Children's abilities and needs and the nature of neglect clearly vary across developmental periods. For example, leaving an adolescent home alone is not usually considered neglect, while this is almost always considered neglect for children younger than 9 years (Jennissen et al, 2018). On the other hand, adolescents have a proclivity for risky and impulsive behavior, which may warrant added protection and supervision by parents and caregivers (Steinberg et al, 2018).…”

Nationwide efforts for trauma-informed care implementation and workforce development in healthcare and related fields: a systematic review

“…Researchers stress the importance of the colocalization of behavioral health and primary care providers, supported with an adequate number of social workers, to better address the needs of patients with a history of childhood trauma; these practices have led to substantial benefits for patients. [61][62][63][65][66][67][93][94][95][96][97][98] One prime example of this integrated behavioral health in primary care practice is the Montefiore Hospital Pediatric primary care clinics, which we will review in more detail in a later section. 95,96 Implementation of TIC has resulted in changes in healthcare practice.…”

Differential Item Functioning Based on Autism Features, IQ, and Age on the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) Among Youth on the Autism Spectrum

“…Therefore, this item related to sleeping alone may be less relevant and, therefore, provide less information about Separation Anxiety for older children on the spectrum. Similarly, regardless of a child's level of Separation Anxiety, parents may be more likely to endorse afraid to stay home alone for younger children for whom it may not be developmentally appropriate to stay home alone [e.g., Jennissen, Evans, Oral, & Denning, 2018].…”