As a parent or tutor, you may sometimes consider leaving your kids unsupervised at home or elsewhere. Contrary to popular belief, in Quebec, there’s no minimum age at which you can leave kids unsupervised. But there are guidelines to help you decide what to do.
Child neglect
In Québec, there’s no specific law setting a minimum age for leaving a child unsupervised. Instead, courts focus more on whether there is neglect.
Neglect is a legal term for when parents or tutors don’t meet a child’s basic physical, health or educational needs.
This includes giving children adequate support and supervision. For example, courts have decided that leaving children in the care of older children for over two days was neglect.
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Important! If you regularly leave a child unsupervised, and there’s a risk to their physical or psychological health, security or development, the Director of Youth Protection (DYP) could become involved. If there’s a serious accident, you could even be charged with a crime. |
Exception: Never unsupervised in a car
It’s against the law to leave a child under seven in a road vehicle without supervision, even for a short time. This rule is meant to protect children and avoid accidents.
You can be fined for leaving a child under seven in a car without supervision.
Some recommendations
Since there’s no general rule in Quebec for leaving children unsupervised, your decision will depend on the circumstances. For example, you can consider these factors:
- your child’s age,
- their personality,
- their maturity,
- their degree of autonomy.
You should also consider the place you’re leaving your child and the amount of time you would leave them.
The Canada Safety Council also recommends different criteria for different ages:
- At age 10: A responsible child could be left unsupervised before and after school or day camp. But the child must be able to easily get in touch with an adult.
- At age 12: Children can usually be left unsupervised for longer periods of time, like a day.
In all situations, you can ask neighbours to be available to help if necessary. Your decision also depends on your child’s ability to deal with an emergency.
A question of parental authority
As a parent or tutor, you have parental authority over your child until they turn 18. Legally, parents are presumed to be responsible for damage caused by minor children living with them, except if they can prove they met their duty to educate and supervise the child.
If you leave your child unsupervised, and they harm another person, you could be held legally responsible.
For example, if your child leaves a tap running and this causes water damage to a neighbour’s apartment, you could be held responsible for the cost of repairs.
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Good to know! What if you don’t want to leave your child home alone but you don’t have enough vacation days to be with them? You could consider taking time off work for personal and family reasons. |