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

[Becky Farwick]

Our policy is 8+ to be alone in the building and 12+ to be responsible for
younger siblings.  If children are left after closing we are supposed to
try to reach the parent, but if they are unavailable the children are
turned over to the police department.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.newportlibraryri.org_about_library-2Dpolicies_children-2Din-2Dthe-2Dlibrary_&d=DwIBaQ&c=tSLbvWYfvulPN3G_n48TUw&r=L_-4KCeL1NFTCgbBWGLXptRx_tYoPpZbpMOWv0nrAy0&m=19Tgq4nI2cTJ0IZEe30Dz4rKZXJ38b4jrRjE03Qf7NY&s=dqSJn_RD4UdahUET5ftsQfjkMmwagGWnOK-S8F4If2M&e= 

Becky Farwick
YA Librarian
Newport Public Library <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.newportlibraryri.org&d=DwIBaQ&c=tSLbvWYfvulPN3G_n48TUw&r=L_-4KCeL1NFTCgbBWGLXptRx_tYoPpZbpMOWv0nrAy0&m=19Tgq4nI2cTJ0IZEe30Dz4rKZXJ38b4jrRjE03Qf7NY&s=IOrErq3wwuottGzkCifVtjrX8eB550Jc7FmoAIoFOBM&e= >
300 Spring Street
Newport, RI 02840
401-847-8720 x206

All for free. All for you.


On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 10:47 AM Rashaa Al-Sasah <rashaa at wwpl.org> wrote:

> 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*
> _______________________________________________
> RIYAC mailing list
> RIYAC at listserve.ri.gov
> http://listserve.ri.gov/mailman/listinfo/riyac
>
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