You are a childcare provider responsible for five children on any given day. You have two of your own, 17 and almost 12.
Your seventeen year old needs picked up from an appointment one morning. Rather than grab the 8 year old, 8 month old, 4 year old, and 19 month old and go through the rigmarole of buckling them all up in their appropriate car seats, you decide to dash the fifteen minutes (round trip) by yourself to pick up your teenager, leaving the four children in the care of your almost-12-year-old.
Your state law indicates children must be 12 years old before you can leave them home alone for any length of time.
Have you technically broken the law here?
Interesting. I searched a bit and there are no "laws" in Washington that say you can't leave other children with a 12 yr old. My opinion would be that - you are the only one who truly knows your 12 yr old and knows if he/she is capable of watching 2 kids, a toddler and infant for any amount of time. Also, I would think that it is something that would need to be disclosed to the parents of the kids you are watching. Personally, I started babysitting at 12 for a family with 3 young children. So, I guess it would depend on the 12 yr old. I do not believe it would be breaking the law because you are not leaving those under 12 by themselves.
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