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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    Lake Chalres
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    27

    Default Leaving Children With a Young Babysitter

    My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: Louisiana

    I am the domiciliary parent of 4 children, ages 11, 7, 5 and 8 months. The two children ages 7 and 5 are with my 1st ex-husband. Next week we are going to court to try my filing for Contempt for non-payment of support. This is his third and he will most likely get jail time, thus he has been quite the jerk lately.
    Recently, he came to my home and my three children ages 11, 7, and 5 were home after school as ususal and he called the police stating they were not being "supervised." Now, he and I agreed that my oldest son (who will be 12 in two months) is capable of watching the two younger children. I live in a high end neighborhood on a dead end street and I work four miles from the house. Surrounding us on either side is my oldest's friends and their parents, and we have a home phone in case they need to dial 911. They are alone for approximatly 2 hours and 15 minutes after school. My oldest son is in advanced placement classes at school and is very responsible. My two younger children are also very well behaved and know the rules (no answering the phone when you are home unless you hear on the machine it's me, no answering the door and no going outside until I get back, no cooking or fire of any kind, etc..). They all know these rules and it's never been a problem before, and this week Child Protection calls me b/c the dad said they were unsupervised. So far no one has been out to meet with me or the children, should I be worried about validated abuse. Due to this, I enrolled the kids in their after school care (which their dad refused to pay for although it's ordered in our child support order, so he can't be that worried.) So it's a moot point, but was that illegal or dangerous of me?

  2. #2

    Default Re: Babysitter Age = Neglect?

    I dealt with this same issue in Virginia a few years ago, and it very quickly became a non-issue. I think you're fine. They are only there for a short time during daylight hours, you have a plan in place, and your oldest is 11. If you want to ease your mind, look up the state laws on the legal babysitting age and what's considered too young. I'm sure you'll find your ex is just being a pain. Good luck!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Lake Chalres
    Posts
    27

    Default Re: Babysitter Age = Neglect?

    We don't have any laws regulating the age of babysitters, that I know for sure. We just have a general definition of "neglect" in our children's code. I hope it becomes a non-issue, I've just never dealt with Child Protection before.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    22

    Default Re: Babysitter Age = Neglect?

    What happened with the police? I would be sure to mention that the order specified he was to pay for the after hours and didn't. He should be more worried than you are.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Eldred, Pennsylvania
    Posts
    35

    Default Re: Babysitter Age = Neglect?

    I know in Pennsylvania, the only law that I can think of is that a child must be 12 to get licensed to babysit. I don't think he would need that, as they are his siblings though. The only problem you might run into is if he states in court that they were not with a licensed caregiver, in which I'm pretty sure the judge would look the other way on the basis of your child being gifted and the plans you already had in place should an emergency come up.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Lake Chalres
    Posts
    27

    Default Re: Babysitter Age = Neglect?

    In louisiana, babysitters don't need a license, we don't have any laws regulating the age of the babysitter, we just have laws defining "neglect." The question in this case I think is were they "unsupervised?" The police refused to write a report on it after speaking to my ex, and I think the OCS worker is going to drop it too.

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