What Age Can Children Be Left Home Alone?
Today’s New York Times has an excellent article on a topic that frequently crops up in Avvo Answers, when are children old enough to be left home by themselves? As the NYT article explains, most states do not specify an age but leave it to parents to decide. A notable exceptions is Maryland – where it is illegal to leave a child under 8 without a babysitter who is at least 13. Safe Kids USA, a DC-based nonprofit views the age of 12 as a milestone. According to Alan Korns, the Safe Kids USA Director of Public Policy / General Counsel, “Children under age 12 don’t have the cognitive ability to recognize risk and, just as important, don’t have the cognitive maturity to react to the risk or accident once it happens.” He added that additional concerns are raised when multiple children are left alone: “That concern is heightened when there are other children in the home. So many injuries and deaths can be prevented by appropriate, active adult supervision.”
