In our experience, lack of supervision is the most contentious allegation Child Protective Services (CPS) investigates and one of the most heavily weighted factors in determining custody arrangements in divorce and custody disputes. What adequate supervision should be varies by state, is poorly defined at best, highly subjective, and extremely difficult to determine in foresight. In parental rights defense, supervision is always assessed in hindsight. At Heartwork Defense, we call that unreasonable, but it is the way the system currently works and unfortunately, it’s not changing in the next week.
In CPS cases, a report alleges that there is a lack of supervision of the child(ren) by one or both parents and CPS tends to look at the situation through a lens of worst case scenario, asking themselves: in theory, what is the logical extreme of potential consequences of this more lax supervision and does this place the child(ren) in immediate or impending danger of serious harm? In divorce and child custody cases, a custody evaluator tends to weight more traditionally maternal responsibilities more heavily than traditionally paternal ones. Therefore, the parent who spends more time with the child(ren), takes them to doctor’s appointments, activities, and more has an enormous advantage in winning primary and even full custody. That doesn’t mean it’s set in stone and there are some general rules to follow that can minimize potential issues in a CPS, dependency, divorce, or child custody case.
Children don’t all develop at the same rate and there are so many variables at play when it comes to determine how much independence is appropriate for a child to have. For example, not all children develop at the same rate. Girls mature faster than boys and this is important to take into account- especially during the teenage years. There’s also location to factor in. A small community in a neighborhood with very low crime where the families know each other may be lower risk than a larger urban area with a high crime rate when it comes to letting children play with minimal or no supervision for a pre-determined period of time. Medical and mental health conditions such as Williams Syndrome, Autism and more can also affect a child’s ability to be independent in spite of chronological age.
During infancy and the toddler years, supervision is much more straightforward. Infants and toddlers should not be left alone. Likewise, the judgement of CPS, custody evaluators, and the courts during these years is especially critical in hindsight- one could go so far as to call it punitive, and they are likely to take swift action for any deviation. While you are allowed to spend time in the kitchen while your baby takes a nap, an infant should be secured in a crib or playpen for the duration and there should be a supervising adult in the home at the time.
When giving independence to older children, it’s important to start small, gradually increase in response to appropriate use of that independence and for you as the parent to have multiple trusted community supports inside and outside the family that the child can go to who share your values and will communicate with you to resolve any issues. No child under 10 years of age should be unsupervised for any time outside of daylight hours and no child should be left alone overnight under age 16 under any circumstances.
If a child is under eight years of age, they should always be under the supervision of a responsible adult. Where parents tend to get caught is when they either don’t have redundant supervision in place during unexpected events and something happens or when the child(ren) get older and decisions are made about how much independence to give. There are some busybody community members who may report to CPS based on their values, so it’s important to know your community, too. If you let your child go to the local park by themselves and they’re 13 years old, someone who witnesses this may make a report to CPS (or to law enforcement and by extension, law enforcement to CPS) and you’re under the microscope.
In addition, you need to keep in mind additional conditions that may impair supervision. If you are in the home, have consumed any drugs or alcohol and there is no completely sober adult who is also present to supervise your child(ren), this can also be considered lack of adequate supervision. Both CPS and custody evaluators judge this type of lapse in supervision harshly.
If you decide to hire a babysitter, ensuring you continue to exceed the minimum standard of care by proxy is crucial. To be safe, we at Heartwork Defense recommend any babysitter to be at least 16 years of age if the duration will be more than 3 hours or it is outside of daylight hours. A babysitter at any time should never be younger than 14 years of age. Make sure it is someone you trust, that there is minimal risk of incident and that there are multiple ways to reach you or another adult relative in the area in the event the babysitter gets overwhelmed or there is an emergency. Having a contingency plan in place is extremely important in maintaining continuity of supervision satisfactory to CPS, custody evaluators and the courts.
When they’re your kids, it’s your rules until the state gets involved. Once they show up, you’re playing by their rules and if they define adequate supervision differently than you do, they can substantiate a case against you- or worse, remove your children. It’s truly shocking just how little it takes to trigger a removal. While it’s hard to plan for supervision standards in foresight, allowing for contingency plans and shooting for a higher than minimum standard reduces the chances of a better outcome for you and your family..