Leave a 12-year-old woman to take care of her brother at home, a China woman facing charges.

This article, "Leaving an old woman of 12 years old to take care of her brother at home", was reprinted in China News Network in April11(liuxue86.com). According to the British "China Business Daily" report, recently, a China woman living in east London was arrested by the police for leaving her 12-year-old daughter at home to look after her 6-year-old brother. The authorities concerned turned a deaf ear to the police's repeated reminders and are considering bringing criminal proceedings against her. This incident reflects the cultural differences between the East and the West, especially the new immigrants from China don't understand the national conditions of Britain, and their legal concepts in this respect are too weak. The victim's surname is Chen, 38 years old. Her husband is a chef in a restaurant, and she works part-time in a takeaway shop every Friday and Saturday. Ms. Chen has two children. The oldest is 12 years old and the youngest is 6 years old. Ms. Chen usually sends her children to school and does housework by herself.

In order to increase the family income, she needs to go out to work two nights a week. A few years ago, she sent her children to relatives to look after them. Two years ago, when the eldest daughter 10 was old, she asked the boss to take care of her younger brother: eating, watching TV and sleeping.

2011/one day in June, a burglary happened near Ms. Chen's residence. A family in the same street with her went out for a trip and their property was stolen. As usual, the police went to the neighbor's house to find out the situation. At 5 pm, I knocked on the door of Ms. Chen's house. At first, the children refused to open the door according to their mother's instructions, but the police knew there was someone in the door and continued to call.

Finally, the police found that there were only two children in this family, but no adults were found. Ms. Chen was quickly recalled by phone. She was warned by the police that it was a crime to leave minors alone at home for a long time. Ms. Chen promised that she would abide by the law and such incidents would not happen again.

After a lapse of three months, the local police conducted routine inspections. The victim is not at home. Her 12-year-old sister is playing video games with her little brother. They told the truth: mom went out to work. The police rushed to the takeaway shop where the woman worked and arrested her. The child welfare department of the local government also intervened urgently, and picked up the two brothers and sisters that night and arranged for temporary placement in a British family.

The next day, Ms. Chen was released on bail pending trial and her husband hurried back. After the lawyer's urging, the two got the child back four days later. However, the government made it clear that it would examine their suitability as parents to take care of their two children. The police and procuratorate are still conducting further investigations to decide whether to prosecute Ms. Chen.

Two years ago, a China man suffered misfortune. His wife is mentally ill and lives in a mental hospital. He often leaves his 7-year-old children at home to make money. The restaurant where he works is only ten minutes away from his home, and he always goes home every two or three hours when he works. The matter was reported to the local child welfare department, and the child was quickly taken away by force. Mr. and Mrs. China were deemed unfit to cooperate with their parents. Although they have been tried twice by the court, they still failed to find their children.

At the end of February this year, a British woman traveled abroad for six weeks, leaving her 14-year-old daughter at home, even though there was a refrigerator full of food and 100 in cash at home. She was still sentenced for dereliction of duty.

According to the traditional habits of China people, 12-year-old children are sensible and can do a lot of housework, especially in rural China. It is natural for teenagers to take their brothers and sisters alone. In Britain, the situation is completely different.

The reporter interviewed NSPCC, the largest child protection organization in Britain. A spokesman for the agency pointed out that British law is very strict in protecting children. How old is the child to stay at home alone? Although the law does not stipulate an accurate age limit, it is still relatively easy for parents to master the size. First of all, it depends on whether parents go out occasionally or often leave their children alone at home. For example, parents occasionally go to a neighbor's house for half an hour and leave their 12-year-old daughter alone at home, of course. But not if you do this several nights a week. For another example, it is certainly helpful for a child to play with other children near his residence. It is illegal to let underage children wander aimlessly in the street during the day. Only children over 16 can stay at home alone.

The spokesman believes that China's parents are really forced by life and need to go out to work. They should entrust their children to other adults or hire nurses to take care of them. He pointed out that some children look quite big, but once they encounter an emergency, such as a fire, they will panic and don't know how to deal with it.

The myth about how old children can be independent.

Myth 1: According to the law, 12-year-old children can't be alone at home.

Commentary: There is no legal provision. 12 is the age that most people think they can stay at home alone, but both school counselors and police believe that 14 is actually the safest.

According to the police, it is not common for the police to receive complaints about simply leaving children at home, unless something happens, such as burglary and being reported to grow marijuana. After investigating the case, the police occasionally find that some underage children are left alone at home.

Moreover, the police will not judge whether a child can be alone at home simply by his age, but must consider other factors, such as whether the environment at home is safe, whether it is unsafe for young children to cook with a stove, whether there are older brothers and sisters among the children, their ability to cope with emergencies, whether they know to call the police in an emergency or contact someone who can provide emergency assistance.

Myth 2: If the child is old enough to be alone at home, such as 16, can he be alone at night?

Commentary: Although there is no law, the police and social workers say that "being alone at home" only means that children can be left alone at home during the day, not including leaving them alone at night.

Generally speaking, minor children (/kloc-under 0/8 years old) should live with adults. Although they can stay at home alone during the day, it does not include staying alone at night.

China people generally misunderstand that teenagers can be alone at home no matter day or night; But in fact, as long as they are underage children, they can be alone at home during the day and must be taken care of by adults at night. Therefore, if parents can't go home to take care of their children at night, they should also ask other adult relatives to take care of them.

Myth 3: If you have more than two children at the same time, you must be the oldest 16 years old to take care of your brothers and sisters at home.

Commentary: The law does not stipulate that children should not be too young, depending on their adaptability and siblings who need to be taken care of.

Myth 4: When the child is 12 years old, he can go out and take the bus by himself.

Commentary: There is no provision in the law. It depends on whether the child has enough external adaptability. Generally, children who go to middle school should be able to go to school by bus, and it would be better if they could have classmates with them. If you need to go far away by car, or take a bus at night, or take a bus to a remote area, you should be careful and be accompanied by an adult.