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.
Here is the link to article for which I obtained this information.
