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Oregon Babysitting, Home-Alone: Parents, Teens, and Children and the Law

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See recent updates (e.g. 2/10/11, 6/15/09), but also click on the Home Alone label in the sidebar.

The most frequently sought and read posts here at this blog over the years have been the ones on babysitting and, more to the point, When Can I Leave My Kids Home Alone? (Do you wonder? Parenting is not for the fainthearted.)

My previous post from Feb 2008 is here. Most of the links are still good, including the ones to the City of Albany, Clackamas County (look for the question: What is the legal age for leaving a child home alone?), and the Red Cross (this one on babysitting).

The law doesn’t change much on this issue here in Oregon, so for a bit of variety to this subject posting, I try to add some additional links to useful websites and blogs – and give reminders about the oldies but goodies:

1) Multnomah Bar Association (MBA) Juvenile Rights Handbook, in English and Spanish. (It is dated 2004, but I know for a fact it has been updated much more recently, within the past year, I believe.)

2) Oregon State Bar (OSB) Family Law web links and their Problems Solvers program that offers free legal information and advice to young people, ages 11-17.

3) ABA Center on Children and the Law

One thing there is a definite shortage of is good parenting guides and web 2.0 tools for teenage parents. Public library reference staff members often do an excellent job finding these so check with your public library reference staff (and their web pages) before throwing up your hands.

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