Carnival lost my daughter from Camp Carnival

[penetangjudy]

I'm a forensic nurse, my mistakes could literally kill someone so I know that better than anyone.......my mistake would still be unintentional and I wouldn't lose my job....sorry, but there are very few mistakes where one 'should' lose their livelihood. In this case, no one was hurt, and the risk really was minimal, if there was any risk at all, people here really like the drama.

[halos]

Look what I discovered....I think this is unspeakable.

Latchkey Children Age Restrictions By State

The following table lists legal age restrictions for children left at home alone categorized by state within the U.S. Please note that city and county ordinances within each state may have more definitive and restrictive laws. Call Child Welfare Information Gateway at 800-394-3366 to learn about age guidelines in your area.

 

 

 

State

 

Minimum Age of

Home Alone Child

Reference

 

Alabama None Alabama Babysitting Laws

Alaska None Fairbanks Resource Center for Parents & Children

Arizona None Arizona Department of Economic Security

Arkansas None Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect - Arkansas

California None Child Abuse Prevention Council

Colorado 12 * Colorado Department of Human Services

Connecticut None State of Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Delaware 12 * Delaware Division of Family Services

Florida None Florida Eighth Judicial Circuit Family Court FAQ

Georgia 9 NBC Augusta.com

Hawaii None Hawaii Department Of The Attorney General

Idaho None Idaho Department of Health & Welfare

Illinois 14 University of Illinois Child Care Resource Service

Indiana None No Laws Govern Leaving Children Alone

Iowa None Iowa Department Of Human Services

Kansas 12 * Kansas Health & Environment

Kentucky None LAW & JUSTICE Children at Home Alone Nov, 2003

Louisiana None Louisiana Department of Social Services

Maine None Maine Kids & Kin

Maryland 8 Maryland Unattended Children Law

Massachusetts None Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries

Michigan None Calhoun County Courts

Minnesota None Minnesota Dakota County Attorney's Office

Mississippi None Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Missouri None KRCG Latch-key limbo An Education Report 2006

Montana None Montana Child & Family Services

Nebraska 11 * Midwest Child Care Association

Nevada Unknown No Resource Found

New Hampshire None State Of New Hampshire Attorney General

New Jersey None NJ Department of Human Services

New Mexico None VogueSeattle.com Lawyer Answers

New York None New York Children & Family Services

North Carolina None NC Health & Human Services

North Dakota 9 * North Dakota CSCC (Kid's Council)

Ohio None The Cleveland Law: Home Alone Children

Oklahoma None Lawton PD - Guide For Working Parents

Oregon 10 City of Albany, Oregon FAQ

Pennsylvania None Pittsburg Post-Gazette.com article June, 2007

Rhode Island Unknown No Resource Found

South Carolina 8 * NBC Augusta.com

South Dakota None South Dakota Cooperative Extension Service

Tennessee 10 * Tennessee Juvenile & Family Court Judges

Texas None Texas Family & Protective Services

Utah None Children's Service Society of Utah

Vermont Unknown No Resource Found

Virginia None Chesterfield County, Virginia Social Services

Washington 10 * Child Care Resources

West Virginia Unknown No Resource Found

Wisconsin 12 * Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin

Wyoming 12 * Wyoming Child Protective Services

[Chigirlcruzin]

Illinois is 14!!! That's absurd! I grew up in IL, and my sister and I were baby-sitting kids at 12.

[halos]

At ten years old i wouldnt be sitting some place crying i would be searching for the pizza and the ice cream now i might be crying from the tummy ach i gave myself . Im the third child of four with a large cap between me and two older brother's so i was a little tougher and wiser at that age .

 

 

well thanks for letting us know how tough you were at that age. That has nothing to do with the OP's daughter who may not have had the advantage of being the third child of four with a large gap in between two older brothers....

 

Illinois is 14!!! That's absurd! I grew up in IL, and my sister and I were baby-sitting kids at 12.

 

All these years I thought there was a national law and the age WAS 12...that's when you could be left alone and babysit as well.

I think you do have to be 12 to babysit don't you?? I mean, if you are under 12 and home watching an even younger sibling, isn't THAT illegal?????

 

Maybe it's not

?????????

[penetangjudy]

Illinois is 14!!! That's absurd! I grew up in IL, and my sister and I were baby-sitting kids at 12.

 

You're able to stay home yourself and start dating(14) all in the same year....LOL

[Kurbanfan]

You're able to stay home yourself and start dating(14) all in the same year....LOL

 

You let your daughter start dating at 14:confused:

[halos]

You're able to stay home yourself and start dating(14) all in the same year....LOL

 

You let your daughter start dating at 14:confused:

 

:eek:

 

slippery slope.

 

I fear this thread will be locked by morning.

 

 

I think 'dating' means diffent thing to diffent people, so.....

[penetangjudy]

You let your daughter start dating at 14:confused:

 

Yes. She got married at 15....divorced at 16, remarried at 18 and at the age of 20 she has 5 children......do YOU have a problem with that???????? :rolleyes:

 

Not that it is any of your business what age I let my daughter date at......who in the world do you THINK you are??

[Rowan555]

Law or not.........does not take a rocket scientist to know that is wrong:rolleyes:

 

Oh, of course not. I was just replying to the poster who asked what the law was. We looked this up ourselves recently and I was shocked to see that most states have no law at all, and the ones that do have such a broad range of minimum age. I also think there's a huge difference between running to the drug store and leaving your kids at home, versus leaving them home while you work an 8 hour graveyard shift. Again, it's all a continuum.

[Kurbanfan]

Yes. She got married at 15....divorced at 16, remarried at 18 and at the age of 20 she has 5 children......do YOU have a problem with that???????? :rolleyes:

 

Not that it is any of your business what age I let my daughter date at......who in the world do you THINK you are??

 

No friggin comment.......I rest my case;)

[Rowan555]

:eek:

sounds like someone needs to update some laws in LA

 

leaving 5 and 6 year olds home alone is LEGAL anywhere????

 

I just don't believe it.......

 

What I didn't believe was that child protection did NOTHING when I alerted them that a particular mom was leaving three very young children home alone overnight, every night, while she worked. And the icing on the cake was that all of this came to my attention because the kids were declared truant and brought into my office for case management - well, they were tardy/truant because mom was coming home late in the morning, and the kids could not GET OUT OF THE HOUSE because there were burglar bars on all the windows and the front door was locked from the outside when mom left for work. So they had to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and wait for her to get home and unlock the door so they could walk to the bus stop. If she didn't show up, they were trapped in the house. All I could think about was what if there was a fire? This was years ago and I still think about it often, and about how many other kids live in similar situations.

[penetangjudy]

No friggin comment.......I rest my case;)

 

What, you have no smart alek remark, I am surprised......and if you believe what I wrote, well, there is one born every minute :rolleyes:

[Kurbanfan]

Oh, of course not. I was just replying to the poster who asked what the law was. We looked this up ourselves recently and I was shocked to see that most states have no law at all, and the ones that do have such a broad range of minimum age. I also think there's a huge difference between running to the drug store and leaving your kids at home, versus leaving them home while you work an 8 hour graveyard shift. Again, it's all a continuum.

 

See this is where we differ........I would never leave my child at home alone for any reason....it really is not that hard to put them in a car seat and go....

Sorry I just don't get it............

[Kurbanfan]

What, you have no smart alek remark, I am surprised......and if you believe what I wrote, well, there is one born every minute :rolleyes:

 

So what is your point:confused:

[Rowan555]

See this is where we differ........I would never leave my child at home alone for any reason....it really is not that hard to put them in a car seat and go....

Sorry I just don't get it............

 

Okay, maybe we're talking about different ages - I guess I was thinking more about like kids 8 to 10 here - but you're talking car seats. No, I don't think anyone should leave a child young enough to be in a car seat at home alone, unless they're with a much older sibling.

 

I've only left my kids home alone once, and actually they weren't "alone" because my dad was right next door at his house. I had an emergency and had to literally run out the door. I honestly don't know if I would leave my kids alone to run errands and such, because you're right, it's easy to just take them with me. Other people do it, though, and I guess it works for them - and I stand by my statement that leaving kids (over age 8 or so) home for 15 minutes while you run to the store is completely different than leaving them home alone all night long.

[Smoofdaddy]

You let your daughter start dating at 14:confused:

 

Yes. She got married at 15....divorced at 16, remarried at 18 and at the age of 20 she has 5 children......do YOU have a problem with that???????? :rolleyes:

 

Not that it is any of your business what age I let my daughter date at......who in the world do you THINK you are??

 

:eek::eek::eek: I'm honestly....speachless!!!!:eek:

[Terrycrz]

When we were on the Disney Magic in Sept 06 and just the opposite happened to us. My husband went to pick up our then 8 yr. old and he didn't remember the password because I was the one who took charge of that and he knew it but forgot. Anyway, they then asked him for her full birth date and could you beleive that this man did not know his daughters exact birthday? He kept mixing it up with our eldest daughters. Anyway, to make a long story short they kept her there for half an hour later. We always picked her up together but dinner did not agree with me that night and I was on a lower deck in a public restroom trusting they were already back in the room. Eventually when I got back to the room and saw no one was there, I went running to the kids club. We all had a good laugh and I appreciated their extra security and their concern for the safety of my daughter by staying with her until a responsible parent showed up. LOL

 

That's just why I am so loyal to Disney because of the safety overall of the ship.

 

Besides, I don't know what to think though about this post since that was their one and only post.

[babyher]

I was an EMT for quite afew years and have been a 9-1-1 dispatcher for 25.

 

I got to see and now hear first hand all those "parents worst nightmare" scenarios. Trust me the actuality is much worse than anything you could imagine.

 

Kids need to be taught how to handle a situation and watch their backs. Even on a cruise ship, make sure they know their cabin number, don't just walk up to any stranger , but certainly go to someone in a cruise ship uniform and ask for help.

Sitting in a stairwell all alone crying screams victim and target .

 

these aren't the days of Leave it to beaver or The Brady Bunch. Kids need to to be educated, aware and a little savvy

[Socref124]

What, you have no smart alek remark, I am surprised......and if you believe what I wrote, well, there is one born every minute :rolleyes:

 

OK, so you put your previous comment on the board knowing it isn't true and then you get upset and nasty when someone acts surprised? Idon't understand why your post was even on this thread. There is actually a very good discussion going on. One where people on both sides are learning. I think, and it's just my opinion, that the nastyness is what a lot of people on cc get turned off by. Differences of opinion are great learning tools. Imagine if everyone agreed with everyone on every subject. No need to get nasty. That's also why threads get pulled. A lot of people think dating at 14 is to young and a lot don't, howeverr, that is not what this thread is about. We are talking about a 10 year old checking themselves out of Camp Carnival. I'll probably get flammed for this, but that's OK, I'm on this thread learning so I have more insight next time we take our grandchildren with uson a cruise.

[penetangjudy]

Mike....There 'might' have been a good discussion going on, but 21 pages of people saying the SAME things over and over again........Do you not think the horse 'might' be dead.

 

You are right though, my comment was uncalled for and I do apologize. It appears that some people on here just like to post things to intentionally hurt or disturb other members and I haven't been here long, but it's already getting old, but I can't just sit and not say something.

[Katmarha]

For those of you who think the staff of Camp Carnival 'should' be fired if she made an error while performing her duties..........The next time you make an honest mistake at YOUR job I really hope you march right into your bosses office and DEMAND your pink slip because that really would be the right thing to do.....God knows we humans aren't allowed to make mistakes!!!!!!!! Some of you are unbelievable :rolleyes:

 

Um......Yes....If I made a mistake with someones child I would totally expect to get fired!!!!??!!!?? "Honest" mistake or not.....and I think I am going to stick with my original thought that it is a bad rule for Carnival to have to let the "children" sign themselves out - even with the parents approval - I just think that it opening too many problems for the safety and welfare of the children.

 

And I also agree it is the parents responsibility too. It is the parents responsibility to make sure they are there to pick the child up on time or have the extra time added to their bill with no chance of the parent deleting the cost off. Guess some people will just have to have one less DOD.

 

For the OP - yes to post and run - usually not a good sign, but it did inform me of this policy which I didn't know about since I have traveled on NCL with my daughter and this will be her first Carnival cruise.

[*CruiseFan*]

re: the child knowing to go back to the room instead of sitting somewhere and crying.

 

I remember, very specifically, when I was 9, almost 10, being at the country club for golf camp. I can't remember the chain of events leading up to this, but I believe camp ended up being cancelled for the day due to rain and somehow I was left to fend for myself. Mind you, I knew this country club very well, especially the golf area. I was still very scared to be all alone and wasn't really sure what to do. I finally made my way back to the pro shop, but I was still crying and a little disoriented by what had happened. So sure, she's old enough to know to go back, but at that age, and being a girl and full of little girl emotions, I think the fact that she was sitting and crying is quite normal. She was confused and scared - heck I'm 28 and my knee-jerk reaction in that situation (confused and scared) would be to sit tight and have a good cry quickly :)

 

I'm glad that she was okay. There are so many things that could have happened.

[wentworth]

The OP said "My daughter felt confused and forced to sign out so she left"

 

Don't know if its the same now but when my kids where that age, If you do not allow your child to sign themselves out, they will have no sign out sheet, unless they made her sign out on the parental main sheet that is up by the door.....if that were the case, someone should have been fired.

Don't know about anyone else but thats why i was assuming.

 

Having permission to sign out and being forced to sign out are two

different situations and this is how I read the OP's post.

[MrPete]

 

I remember, very specifically, when I was 9, almost 10, being at the country club for golf camp. I can't remember the chain of events leading up to this, but I believe camp ended up being cancelled for the day due to rain and somehow I was left to fend for myself.

 

 

Not sure why, but this reminds me of when I was 3, and living in the Bronx. We were in the local market, and I couldn't find my mother. I asked a lady if she knew where my mother was, and she TOLD me she had gone home. So I walked three blocks home. THREE BLOCKS! The guy across the hall heard me crying and watched me until someone showed up. Yada yada yada, cops came, parents came, all was well.

 

 

HOW DO I REMEMBER THIS? Who knows, but it was ingrained in me for life. I can't even imagine being in my parents shoes.

 

Back to the bantering......

[halos]

What I didn't believe was that child protection did NOTHING when I alerted them that a particular mom was leaving three very young children home alone overnight, every night, while she worked. And the icing on the cake was that all of this came to my attention because the kids were declared truant and brought into my office for case management - well, they were tardy/truant because mom was coming home late in the morning, and the kids could not GET OUT OF THE HOUSE because there were burglar bars on all the windows and the front door was locked from the outside when mom left for work. So they had to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and wait for her to get home and unlock the door so they could walk to the bus stop. If she didn't show up, they were trapped in the house. All I could think about was what if there was a fire? This was years ago and I still think about it often, and about how many other kids live in similar situations.

 

HOLY CRAP! :eek: That's just awful. :(