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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

TFN is published by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6BB. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Registration number SC003558.

Is it ever acceptable to leave children home alone?

This poll is over 5 years old
 

The NSPCC has reported a substantial increase in calls about children being left home alone.

The charity has urged parents to think carefully before leaving their children unsupervised during the school holidays, after seeing a 21% rise in contacts about the issue last summer from across the UK.

Although the law does not give a minimum age at which children can be left on their own, parents and carers can be prosecuted for cruelty to a child, which includes neglect, abandonment and failure to protect, if children are put at risk of suffering or injury.

So this week, TFN is asking: is it ever acceptable to leave your children home alone?

Get involved by registering your vote and leave a comment below.

Is it ever acceptable to leave children home alone?

Yes
64
No
34
Options
Voting in this poll has now closed
 

Comments

0 0
Tiiu Miller
over 5 years ago
Surely it's a daft question. People are classified as children up to their 18th birthday, but can get married at 16, and many at these ages are left to baby sit younger children. To make sense there should have been an age specified - children under 16/12/whatever.
0 0
Kathleen Caskie
over 5 years ago
I agree with Tiiu; daft question.It it ever acceptable to leave a 6 year old at home alone? No.It it ever acceptable to leave a 15 year old at home alone? Yes, of course.
0 0
CB
over 5 years ago
The law needs to be changed to protect really young children. I think there should be a minimum age that you can legally leave a child .
Commenting is now closed on this post