Home Alone OCD_OCD: Two young children were found alone in an Arlington apartment complex Thursday morning. Police say a 4-year-old child was found wandering through the Carriage Hill apartment complex on the 1600-block of Jones Drive and was taken to the front office. Police went to the child's apartment and found the girl's 2-year-old sister inside, alone. The 4-year-old told police she was babysitting. Both of the children are OK. At 11:20 a.m., on their Twitter feed, Arlington police said they are in contact with the mother and are investigating.  davidk14: . Is it that these acts have always happened and have just not been reported? I've heard some horrendous treatment upon children for many years. But the acts were spread far apart. You'd think it was just once in awhile. Recently I've noticed more violence on children. More and more real young children are victims. How can a sane person do deadly violence on the very young? A sane person doesn't. So, are there more insane people committing the worst of all crimes against children? or....Is it that these acts have always happened and have just not been reported? But, the insane person is created. Whether twenty years ago or in the past 2 years. A day ago, an insane man killed his family of five including his one year old child,and then he kills himself. Something snapped.......again. . (Edited by davidk14)  StuckInTheSixties: david says: "So, are there more insane people committing the worst of all crimes against children? or....Is it that these acts have always happened and have just not been reported?" I don't know with any certainty, but my hunch is that your perception is based on the fact that it's possible for information about these kinds of things to be spread and disseminated more efficiently now, compared to before. I think we just hear about these things more often now, rather than them actually happening more often. (Edited by StuckInTheSixties) OCD_OCD: This is politically incorrect, but I'm glad the rat buzzard David was talking about offed himself. Kill yourself if you can't handle it, but leave the kids alone. davidk14: . I found this when looking for statistics...Interesting.... http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/violence_en.pdf .  I was here: It would seem that the mother left these children in the care of her teenage son and made plans to return (from work at break time) to take the girls to daycare. It would appear that the son left for school and is the one who left the girls unattended. (Edited by I was here) I was here: Two young children were found alone in an Arlington apartment complex Thursday morning. Police say a 4-year-old child was found wandering through the Carriage Hill apartment complex on the 1600-block of Jones Drive and was taken to the front office. Police went to the child's apartment and found the girl's 2-year-old sister inside, alone. The 4-year-old told police she was babysitting. Both of the children are OK. Arlington Police said that the mother told them that the girls were left in the care of their teenage brother. "[The mother] said she would come back during her break to take them to daycare," said Officer McDonnell. Police believe the teenage son went to school, leaving the young girls behind. Police say they believe the girls were alone for about 90 minutes. Child Protective Services took the girls from the apartment Thursday afternoon, but did not comment on the situation. Arlington Police say they will not file charges and believe this was an isolated incident. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Young-Children-Found-Alone-in-Arlington-150023185.html I was here: Every State has different rules on siblings caring for younger siblings. Here, this would be perfectly legal having a teen watch 2 younger sibling. (Edited by I was here) OCD_OCD: I think the older sibling would be perfectly acceptable. It is the leaving them alone that's scary. I wonder if he called his mother before he took off. then again, she knew what time the kid had to go to school. I was here: The fact still remains that he should have stayed put. I am the eldest daughter in my family and I watched 2 younger siblings at times. There isn't a chance in hell, I would have just up and left them...yikes! I would have been in huge time trouble. I was here: Interesting enough. I have learned that most States have no babysitting laws in place. They have left it up to the counties in many instances. Most states do not have babysitting laws on the books, although a number of them do have laws that apply to some aspects of baby sitting, if at times indirectly. A number of states provide guidelines and recommendations, but only one state to date has a specific law relating to babysitters age. Several states have laws, not pertaining to babysitters, but addressing the minimum age as to when children can be left alone. Maryland More Or Less Stands Alone - Under Maryland babysitting laws, the minimum age cited is 13. The law does not state that 13 is the minimum allowable age for a babysitter, but rather that a child is considered unsupervised unless there is someone present in charge of being with, and protecting the child, and that person is at least 13 years of age That really says the same thing, except if you leave your child with a 12 year old you could be charged with child neglect. Leaving your son or daughter home alone, if that child is 8 years old or younger, is also against the law. http://www.knowledgegalaxy.net/babysitting_laws/babysitting_laws.html (Edited by I was here) davidk14: . If you haven't seen this, you should take a few minutes and at least read the Foreword and the stats on pages 8,9,10. http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/violence_en.pdf . I was here: I already did David and I don't see where it has anything to do with what we are discussing. This woman didn't neglect her children, she made a poor judgement call. There is a HUGE difference. davidk14: . She made a conscious decision to have the 4 year old watch the 2 year old, and she may have done this before. Making excuses regarding child endangerment doesn't make sense. There is a bigger picture because the problem is so vast. . | Off Topic Chat Room Similar Conversations |