TORONTO -- If a child six years old or younger is left home alone for more than four hours it should be considered child neglect, a new survey of U.S. social workers suggests.
The survey found that social workers were overall more inclined to label such scenarios as child neglect if a child was physically hurt.
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"Social workers were significantly more likely to consider it child neglect when a child was left home alone, if the child had suffered an injury,” said head researcher Dr. Charles Jennissen in a press release.
The emergency pediatric physician at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine said the situation “should be handled the same by child protective investigators” whether the child is injured or not.
The research also found a majority of social workers felt children should be at least 12 before being left home alone for longer than four hours.
STUDY SURVEYED 485 U.S. SOCIAL WORKERS
Researchers surveyed 485 members of the U.S.-based group National Association of Social Workers, which described itself as working with children and family welfare, through October and November 2015. Researchers emailed social workers hypothetical scenarios to see what they labelled child neglect.
The scenarios, which involved children being left home alone for four hours, varied the children’s ages and whether they were injured or not.
Nearly every participating social worker considered it child neglect if a child was six years old or younger and was left home alone for more than four hours.
Social workers were less likely to believe it was child neglect if the child was older.
“More than 80 per cent of social workers stated that (it) was child neglect if the child was eight years or younger; (and) about 50 per cent stated it was child neglect if the child was 10 or younger,” the press release said.
Very few social workers considered a 12 or 14 year old being left alone for four hours as child neglect.
Four out of five surveyed social workers said it should be illegal to leave a child alone for four hours if they’re under the age of 10.
“We’re all influenced by our experience and social workers -- by definition -- are partly there for child protection and they have a lot more experience in cases that can go wrong,” Psychiatrist and author Dr. Shimi Kang told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. “(Social workers) generally don’t get called to situations that are going right.”
CHILD MATURITY, COGNIZANCE OVERLOOKED IN FINDINGS: DOCTOR
Kang, who wasn’t involved with the study, told CTVNews.ca that the findings of the survey might not take into account children’s maturity or cognitive capabilities.
“Everything is grey … and when we try to put a rigid answer to something so complex, that’s where things become difficult,” she said, adding few child welfare organizations would approve of children younger than 10 be left unattended.
But Kang said there was a greyer area for children older than that. She said each situation was specific to the child and their home life.
“What about the safety of the home? Or what’s the neighbourhood like? Is the furnace working right?” she said. “Also, what kind of coaching have the parents provided to the child before they leave them alone?”
This can include teaching children to know what to do or where to go if there’s an emergency; or which phone numbers they should call in those cases. Kang added age might not indicate maturity.
“On the other extreme, there could be an 18 year old who is cognitively unaware for whatever reason who shouldn’t be left alone for four hours,” she added.
In Canada, each province has slight variations on what constitutes child neglect when it came to leaving children alone for periods of time. But there’s also no strict enforcement of these rules per se.
For example, under Ontario’s Child, Youth and Family Services Act, “no person having charge of a child less than 16 years of age shall leave the child without making provision for his or her supervision and care that is reasonable in the circumstances.”
But the Durham Children’s Aid Society -- which is mandated by the Ontario government – recommends different timeframes parents could leave children of various ages. It mentioned how “each situation is different and must be assessed individually.”
The data from the survery will be presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2019 National Conference and Exhibition next week.
