[Young Adult and Children's Services Discussion List] Safe child/unattended child policies

[Rashaa Al-Sasah]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking to amend our child policy and I would like to know what you
all have been doing for yours.
Our policy currently states basically that children 8+ can be at the
library without a parent or guardian and younger children need a parent
with them at all times which is fine. The problem I am having is parents
leaving Older children ages 8+ who can be here alone along with the younger
sibling in the older child's care. Whether this is an older sibling picking
up the younger one after school and heading to the library or parents just
dropping off the kids or parents attending to something elsewhere in the
building. Sometimes the older sibling is responsible and sometimes its a
problem.

We have nothing to address this situation and its a weird grey area. I
would like to clear this up by amending the policy to state something to
the effect that children 10+ are allowed to care for a school-aged sibling
while at the library but ultimately as our policy already states the
Parent/guardian is responsible for the child's behavior if they are here or
not.

What do you have in your policy? Is ages 10+ and a school-aged younger
sibling reasonable?
Any other suggestions are welcome!

Best,
Rashaa
-- 



*Rashaa Al-Sasah, MLISHead of Teen ServicesPronouns:She/Her*
*West Warwick Public library *
*1043 Main St.*
*West Warwick, RI 02893*
*401-828-3750 ext.2*
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