UPDATES IN MICHIGAN FAMILY LAW

Home Alone | When is it appropriate?

Questions frequently arise during the course of a divorce about about how old one must be in Michigan to be a babysitter, about how old a child must be in Michigan before she can be left alone without a babysitter or daycare, and about whether older siblings can babysit for younger ones. When children may be with the non-custodial parent for a large portion of the summer, specific concerns often arise about whether the child can or should be left home alone.

This isn't an Ozzie and Harriet world anymore. I can remember when, in 1975, I felt perfectly comfortable to browse in the adult section while my three-year-old ran to the children's book area of Horizon Books in Traverse City to look for the book he'd come back clutching saying "This is the Richard Scarry book I need today!" Would I allow a young child to be unsupervised in a downtown store today? Absolutely not. Similar concerns are raised these days about leaving children unsupervised in their home.

Home Alone | Is your child ready for this?

One question frequently asked by parents is “How old should a child be before he can be left home alone?” Often, I’m asked this question when holidays are coming up and parents will be at work, but children won’t be in school. The question is asked even more frequently as summer vacation approaches.

Of course, there is no simple one-size-fits-all answer. This decision is complicated because much depends upon the individual child and also family dynamics. A parent has to consider not only whether his or her particular child is “old enough,” but is ready enough to be left home alone. The issue becomes more complicated if there are younger siblings. Is the oldest child ready to stay home alone and to be “in charge of” the younger children?

Home Alone: Part V

There has been a lot of interest in the issue of whether children should be left home alone and of how old children should be before they can be left alone. The interest is shown by the number of parents from all over the country who have come to this Blog seeking information. This a a rather long post, so I want to let all of my readers know that there is a checklist for you to use to assess whether a child is ready to be left home along. 

We discussed this topic on the State Bar of Michigan Listserv not long ago. Several family lawyers cited examples of why children should not be waiting alone at a bus stop for even 5 minutes just so Mom (or Dad) could get to work on time.

Summertime and the living is easy . . . or is it?

It's summertime. Many non-custodial parents are exercising large blocks of summer parenting time. It's easy to see, however, that there are some disgruntled and/or concerned parents out there who may be unhappy with the way the other parent is handling the children's summer care.

I wrote recently on this blog about the appropriate age when children can be left alone without a caregiver and about the appropriateness of assigning siblings to provide care for younger brothers or sisters.

In checking to see what brings people to my Blog, I note that in the past few days, parents from the following states have Googled to check on this issue, indicating a high level of concern about whether children are being neglected: I note visitors from TN, CA (many), IL, UT, NY, MI (many), NJ, TX, MS, KS, KY, PA, WA, ME, IA, GA, CO, MD, AND SC in the past several days.

It's time to check out the safety resources available to parents for babysitter training. You can read my earlier article here. Home Alone: Child care and babysitter issues

If your child lives in Michigan and you believe that a parent is leaving the child or children unsupervised, you'll want to review the Michigan Child Protection Act. Is the other parent's actions "neglect or abuse?" Does leaving a child alone, or leaving a sibling in charge of younger children, constitute "failure to protect?" For more information,  see my website.

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Home Alone: Child care and babysitter issues

Questions frequently arise during the course of a divorce about about how old one must be in Michigan to be a babysitter, about how old a child must be in Michigan before she can be left alone without a babysitter or daycare, and about whether older siblings can babysit for younger ones.

An appallingly large number of children are left without care and supervision by their parents. See, Left Unsupervised: A Look at the Most Vulnerable Children, By Sharon Vandivere, M.P.P., Kathryn Tout, Ph.D., Jeffrey Capizzano, M.A., and Martha Zaslow, Ph.D., April 2003, published by Child Trends, a non-profit research organization based in Washington, D.C.