Does anyone know the legal age a child can be left alone overnight? We are planning a short trip in our caravan but our 16 year old doesnt want to come.
I feel happy about leaving her and she is too but is it legal????

I think there's no actual age but I have a memory of 14

At 16 she could live legally on her own if she wanted to(treated as a young person rather than a child in law at 16)so you should be ok

It's legal but check the house insurance ;)

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/html/home/needadvice/childrenathomealone.htm

Here you go :)

Lucy
xx

>For example, most parents would think it's OK to leave a sixteen-year-old alone for the evening, but to leave them for a week would be unacceptable.

  How's that if you can leave home at 16.  I did, was fully responsible for my life and certainly didn't come to a sticky end, although I can perfectly understand a parent being more happy for the teenager to be responsible for themselves rather than the family home :)

You can also be married at 16 as my Mum was.

Mine spent the odd night alone at that age - just depends on the maturity of the child. Sometimes mine had a friend (same sex :D ) to stay or I asked a neighbour just to keep an eye on things. Never had a problem :)

Daisy

MMmmmmm I was left alone at the age sometimes as well and know what we used to get up to

I agree it does depend on the maturity and also if the child has common sense :)

We went to Hawkshead for a long weekend and left 16 yr old (week before last).  He had a couple of friends stay too and he was fine.  My daughter went round one evening to check everything was ok and my mum rang occasionally as did I.  The house was spick and span when we got back and my neighbour said she didn't hear a peep.  I think it's down to the individual child.  I told my son that leaving him meant I trusted him to be responsible and I think that makes them feel more responsible.

When I was 16 my parents always left me alone when they went to the country house for the weekend. I wasn't the most responsible kid in the world, but I was okay.... I guess they trueted me ;).

I thought foster children were no longer treated as "in care" at 16 and could move into a flat etc?

Hi,
A child is under 18years of age.
A girl can have a baby legally at 16yrs 9months, But! not drink in a pub.
Parents are resposible for children all under 18yrs of age.

Even married ones?

Yes. ;) I had this discussion with a solicitor friend a while ago. In Scotland (don't know about England, Wales or N. Ireland) even if the child gets married and has kids it is still the parents who are legally responsible UNLESS the child divorces them through the courts

So the children of underage girls are legally the parents responsibility (the girls parents) does that mean if the parents wanted they coudl deprive teh mother of teh chikld, say when she chose to leave home once adult, and they wanted to keep the child?

Also suppose the girl wants to keep the baby but her parents don't want to be responsible for it, can they insist the girl has an abortion.

Very grey area.

I think that by the time it all went to court the child would have become an adult :) I don't think I've ever heard of a case but it could happen. Always thought the law was an a**!

i was under the impression that foster children no longer had to live with a carer once they were 16?

At the age of 17 a child can move out of their home and the parents cannot do a thing about it.  16 to 18 years of age is a very grey area when it comes to parental responsibility.  What about babysitting?  Is the legal age to babysit 14 yrs?  If so, you must be able to leave a 14 year old home alone. 

IMO the age of the teen is not so important as their attitude.  You can have a very responsible 16 year old and a totally irresponsible 18 year old. 

Hi Cheryls,
That could be arguedIf anythink was to go wrong and Social services were to get involved,
like if there were an accident or the baby/child was taken ill, and was taken to hospital ect; they automaticly inform S.Services.There could be problems. as the age to leave a person in charge is legally 18yrs.
If your child moves out from home say 16/17yrs you have a problem to stop them, but! you are still responsible until they are 18yrs unless they have been removed into care.
Hasn't she got a friend of 18+yrs who could stay with her?

Hi Barbarba,
I have a special needs daughter, who went to a special school she was there until she was 19yrs.
If she had become pregnant, I could not ask or sign for an abortion over the age of 16yrs.
But! she could not sign either because she was special needs, if anythink had happened, she would have
had to have had the babyguess who would have had to rear it

Hi,
Did you know? that they brought a new law out in March 2005 in England, not published as much as it should have been though. That if your son, just say, was 15yrs old and had sex with a girl at 15yrs old.
If it was found to be, he would be put on the sex affenders reg. as having sex with a girl under sixteen years. For life. It would cause problems with work getting a job!,it would be on his C.I.B. check.
It would put all his chilren he had on the at risk Reg. It would ruin his life.
If the girl got pregnant, his parents would have to pay maintenance.
I have 5 Daughters and one son thank God

... but that's not really the topic is it? It does highlight how ambiguous the law is where it tries to draw a line of responsibility.  It is society that decides what a age a person crosses from child to adult so I suppose it is down to us parents to instill the values we believe are correct and then trust that our children make the right decisions based on what we've taught them.  When it comes to responsibility we have to judge as to whether they are responsible or not.  We cannot wrap them up tight and then expect them to make all the right decisions at 18 because our society states this is the age of adulthood.  Unfortunately we have been frightened into trying to protect our children from every possible danger and this is not always to the benefit of the individuals.  If a parent thinks their 16 yr old is sensible and responsible enough to be left alone overnight then I really cannot see that it would be wrong to leave them.  They are still more at risk from crossing the road any day of the week than being left in their own home alone.

Hi Cheryls,
I could personally agree, but! crossing the road isn't against the law. We all do thinks that are sometimes not exceptable to others. As I say it is o.k. unless somethink goes wrong then all hell breaks loose.
The laws have to be made for every one, of all types and classes.
I still worry over all my children even though they are all over age, as I feel your children are always your children and your babies always remain your babies. As I say to my son who is now 20yrs old the day I don't worry is the day for you to worry that I don't care.

No, it's not against the law to cross the road and it's not against the law to leave your 16 year old children home alone either. The point I'm trying to make is that people worry more about leaving teenagers home alone when in fact statistically they are more at danger from doing certain activities that we have allowed them to do for a long time, i.e. crossing the road. I still worry about my children and my baby is 16. My mum still worries about me and I am 48.

Hi Barbara,
This is where the law is an ass, Yes, they remain a child in the law until they are 18yrs old.
I would love to see the age of consent raised to 18yrs, as it common sence to me
How can a girl give consent to sex at 16yrs old, become a mother, But! remain a child and not drink in pubs ect; ect;They do remain in school now until they are sixteen, so I feel that everythink should now be 18yrs.
You can't stop your child being a mother, but! you are held responsible for her.
Doesn't make any sence does it

Hi denese

I don't have this problem but do know that if a child leaves at 17 the law will not force that child to return and no, social services will not be involved unless you involve them.  A child can go into lodgings and officially change their address.  If the law cannot force the child to return to the family home then how can the law hold the family responsible?  You have to know where the child is surely?  If they remove themselves and change their address how can the parents be responsible.  Social Services do not become involved as a matter of course, someone has to involve them.  Interestingly and infuriatingly if a child gets into trouble with the law at 17, they can choose anyone over the age of 18 to sit with them as a responsible adult and the parents will be excluded completely whether they like it or not.  This also means that the law is not obliged to tell you what your child is in trouble for even though they are living with you. This is a fact.

I am not confident that the age to leave a person in charge of children is 18.  There doesn't appear to be a legal minimum age to babysit, only a minimum age to work (13 yrs).  That the job involves looking after children younger than the babysitter suggests that it is acceptable to leave a 13 year old child alone.  However, I think most people would consider this too young to leave a child of this age alone overnight (although I know of this happening).  Like I mentioned before the law seems to be very vague in this area.

Hi Cheryls,
A lot of people are under the impression that you can leave a child baby sitting children at 13/14yrs.
It is not so, people get away with it because no authorities find out. Like I said no one would know unless
somethink went wrong or some one told the authoritied. Then the trouble starts, once they get you
on there books, Well!!!
The at risk reg; comes to mind

Hi denese

Where in the law does it state that children cannot babysit at these ages?  if you had siblings of 14 and 12 years old left alone you could argue that the older one was babysitting the younger one and this would still be legal.  Anyway, it seems that age doesn't really come into the equation where the law is concerned, only risk to children:-

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/home/needadvice/childrenathomealone.htm

Hi Cheryls,
People do as they please, that is there chose. I worked in Child care for the S.S. for over 15yrs and still help out now and again. I am telling you how it works in England. There are many parents that have
Quoted the same statement in court.There are laws like "failing to protect," safty orders I could go on.
There are many mothers out there that have had there babies/children removed,and some never returned,
For things that you may think or are lead to beleve to be exceptable. You are held fully responsible for your children, the laws are tighter now than they have ever been.

This website  is interesting as it gives these replies

Q.   What age can I leave my child at home on their own?

A  Parents often wonder when it is safe to leave a child unsupervised at home. The law does not specify an age when a child can be left unsupervised. However, parents can be prosecuted for neglect if by leaving the child alone they are putting him or her at risk.

The NSPCC advises that no child should be left alone under the age of twelve, or overnight under the age of sixteen. Even a short period of time on their own can be distressing and lonely for a child, most 8-13 year olds even if happy to be left may not be able to cope with an emergency.

Q.   How old does my child have to be before I can leave them overnight?
A.   A child should not be left overnight under the age of sixteen.

Q.   When can an older child look after a younger one?

A There will be a need to make a judgement of whether the older child has the maturity to look after the younger child. If your older child is under sixteen years of age, you must be prepared to take responsibility for anything that should go wrong in your absence. You are also responsible for the care and safety of your older child.

The British Red Cross run babysitting courses for teenagers. Children must be over the age of fourteen years in order to attend. You can find out more about these courses from their website, at http://www.redcross.org.uk.

We left Conor on his own today (just turned 13) for the first time ...we drove to Lincoln and then Boston. I rang home twice during that time AND he had my mobile number in case he needed it. When we got back he actually thanked me for trusting him ;)

On Saturday night we are going out and Sophie (15) will be in charge of Conor ....

I think that most parents KNOW their children and know what they are capable of. I make sure that I leave phone numbers and that they are not allowed to cook ...just in case ;) But I would never ever leave them overnight.

There is a 7 year age gap between my son and daughter but  he didn't babysit for us until he was 16 although he was more than capable of it before then . The reason for that being that i did not think he would have been emotionally able to cope in the event of an accident happening when he was responsible for the well being of his little sister.
Yes he was capable and knowledgeable enough to deal with any unforeseen problems that could have arisen but not to be burdened with the emotional trauma of  having to live with the aftermath.
Fortunately for everyone we never had a problem.

My previous next door neighbours used to ask my 14 yr old to babysit.  They had two lovely girls aged about 7 and 8 at the time.  I used to keep popping round and looking through the windows to check all was well, sort of babysitting the babysitter :D

I was a regular babysitter for neighbours and parents friends from the age of about 13. Everybody did it for pocketmoney in those days.  I think we were generally more domesticated as children and used to doing chores, helping out with younger siblings etc and people didn't have the fears of dreadfull things happening that they seem to have now.

I certainly was left with five younger siblings when I was 12 while parents shopped etc.

In fact when I was 11 1/2 I had 10 days off school while my Mum was in hospital having my youngest brother and did all the cooking and looking after the other kids while my Dad worked from home.

Two years later I was happy to stay home with the youngest instead of go on a family outing for the day.

At the age of 14 I was in charge of 4 kids from 4-9 and 30+ dogs!!!!! They were not my siblings and I looked after them on my own from 9am - 12am sometimes during harvest!!!!
I am glad this has come up as I was going to ask the same.
I have an 11 year old that starts secondary school in september (The eldest)
My mum left him on his own with Gemma when Gemma had an emergency spay and couldnt be left on her own, while she nbipped to the end of the road to pick Sam, 7 up.
Now I am thinking of letting him stay on his own while I nip to the shops, 20 mins at the most!!!!
He has walked home from school to mums for the last 4 months and is VERY sensible.
But I worry that the neighbours will say something.
So dont know if to leave him or not.
Would never dream of leaving him for more than 1/2 hour at the moment but I have got to let him start to grow up at some point.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Lea :)

Unless he is an out and out hooligan :) I wouldn't worry about that at all

Unless he is an out and out hooligan  I wouldn't worry about that at all 
I am pretty sure James doesnt even have hooligan in his dictionary.
You should hear what he says about the kids that walk across the road in front of traffic!!!!
He is one of those kids that couldnt be a hooligan if he tried he has too much opf a consciance!!!!!
Now Sam......................................... LMAo
Lea :)

I'd just make sure (without panicking him) that he knows his firedrill and knows who to go to if he has a problem :) I'm sure that I left mine for short periods, when they were that age, without problem :)

Daisy

Have to say I didn't let Sophie OR Conor walk to school on their own until they went to secondary school ..just my personal choice though :)

Despite both my sister and I being hit by cars when children, I always allowed mine to go up to the shops etc from the age of about 8 or 9 :) They couldn't walk to school though as it was 7 miles away :D

Daisy

Mine started going out and about and staying at home while I went shopping when they went to secondary school. Seeing as they had to get to school 12 miles away it made sense that they started to get a bit street wise at that age.
I am sure your son will be fine.

I let the older ones go on their own when they went to Junior school ...but then the traffic wasn't as fast or as plentiful back then ;)

Children do vary considerably in their independance also :) My daughter would have walked to the shops when she was three if I had let her :D Son had to be bribed to walk to the shop/library, as he went to school by car, I felt it important that he got used to crossing roads by himself as soon as he was old enough :) I don't think that the level of traffic makes a lot of difference. Children can be just as incompetent on quiet roads as busy roads :)

Daisy

>Children can be just as incompetent on quiet roads as busy roads

As the mother of 5 who has lived in London and rural Lincolnshire I think I can safely say that I am aware of that ;) :D :p

I don't think I was happy letting my oldest out on his own even after he had passed a driving test:rolleyes:..... the phrase "chewing gum and walking a straight line" comes to mind

Even so, I had to let got of the apron strings........... ;)

Margot

My sister and I were both hit by cars on the same road - about 100 yards apart :D Me, in the rush hour, aged 13, in the winter, on my way to school - my sister, mid-afternoon, in the summer, when the road was very quiet (she was 8, on her way home from school by herself while my mother was nursing me with pneumonia :( )

Daisy

Hi,
Like I say the law is an ass!! But!!! all for God sake be carefull,
In the past I have had children brought to me, at all hours, when
the parents have gone out for a while, some neighbour had noted,
Told the police, they have a 24hours S. Services number. they go remove the child/children
To come home and find they have been put into care on a safty order.
They have to get a solicitor wait for a court date, explain to the court why they had been left,
To see if they can be ruturned under supervision.
These are ordinary families.

Matthew is nine and I have just let him walk to the local shops on his own, its only a five minute walk but I gave him my old phone and called him three times. I know I have to let him grow up but its really scary especially as our next door neighbour has been arrested for the rape of a thirteen yr old. We have been through the dangers with him but it doesnt stop you worring does it.
Mary

My son is a very sensible twelve year old and does stay at home alone for short periods of time.  However, although I let him go to the local shop as I can put in time restraints, (I know how long he will be gone), or he can walk to his friends house if either end of the journey is confirmed by a phone call,  I refuse to let him go out with his mates unless supervised by an adult albeit from a distance.  His 'friends' seem to aimlessly wander.  Our local skate park is full of older teens smoking things they shouldn't and as my son does not skate, I see no reason for him to be there.

This does mean that I end up providing lots of supervision and organising structured activity.  How can parents feel it's right to let your child go out and not know exactly where they are at all times?  I see children as young as seven walking past my house unsupervised!  Parents are responsible for their children at all times and how can you do that if you don't know exactly where they are?

I certainly wouldn't allow a nine year old out on his own either.  Although you may be confident in his ability to be out on his own, you cannot take into account the action of others.