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ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.06.2007
It's nail-biting season for parents and others who worry about the welfare of children.
All year long, 30 percent of the nation's school-age children are home alone during the day while their parents work, the Census Bureau estimates.
In Arizona, that percentage equals about 330,000 of the 1.1 million children who are 5 to 17 years old.
And now that school's out for the summer, the hours kids spend without adult supervision can stretch from morning to night.
Experts agree on guidelines families can follow to ensure their kids' safety while parents are at work. And in Tucson, a free phone service is starting its 24th year of keeping kids company when they're home alone.
KidLine, operated by Child and Family Resources Inc., gives kids an opportunity to visit for 10 minutes per phone call with a caring teen or adult volunteer. During the summer, kids are welcome to call up to three times a day.
During the school year, KidLine averages about 500 calls a month, said Diane Haeger, KidLine director. In June 2006, the number of calls shot up to 692, Haeger said, as kids began spending more time alone.
Calls dropped to 252 in January, when kids were on Christmas break, then back in school. Calls have increased each month since then, and Haeger said she expects about 700 again this month.
"We try to be open to whatever the kids want," said Haeger. "Sometimes they want to tell jokes. Sometimes they had a great day and they're really excited to talk to someone. Or they want to complain about what someone said or did.
"We work very hard to be non-judgmental. When they do have a problem, we try to teach them problem-solving skills; we don't want to be the one to solve the problem for them.
"Sometimes they'll say, 'Well, I just want to beat her up,' and we say, 'Well, but what would be the consequences of that?' "
At least 80 percent of calls are from kids who just want to visit or play games, Haeger said. "Once an 11-year-old called and asked me to read 'Hop on Pop' (a Dr. Seuss poem) and then I realized she had handed the phone over to her 3-year-old brother."
Once in a while, a volunteer hears from a child in crisis.
"We tell them it's between us unless someone is hurting them or they're hurting someone," Haeger said. "If a kid says they are being abused, then we report it. It's our legal obligation but we also feel it's our moral obligation to try to keep kids safe."
KidLine started in 1984, when Child and Family Resources was known as the Tucson Association for Child Care. Since then, more than 200,000 children have made use of the service, Haeger said.
One of those kids was Linda Lopez, who has volunteered with KidLine since turning 16 in January.
"I remember it was a fun thing," said Lopez, who will be a junior this fall at Sunnyside High School. "All of us knew about KidLine. We usually used it during the summer."
Lopez said she has yet to take a call from anyone in a problem situation. "It's usually kids wanting to tell me something fun about their day, or getting a Boy Scout badge that they're proud of," she said.
"If it were a paying job I could do it for the rest of my life."
Holly Colonna, lead counselor for Tucson Unified School District, said being home alone is "very scary for a lot of kids."
She urges parents to find summer classes or activities that can fill at least part of their kids' days. She also suggests parents talk to their employers about working flexible hours.
"It's just really difficult for parents," Colonna said. "Some of the programs cost money and not all parents can afford it. Other programs may not cost anything but the parent has to arrange for transportation."
Lisa Rice, executive director of the Phoenix-based Arizona Center for After School Excellence, said she is a working mom who sympathizes with parents who find it difficult to fit summer programs into their budgets.
"We're trying to do research to learn more about the gap between what families' needs are and what programs are available," Rice said. "We know that kids who are engaged in positive activities outside of school are more successful in school, get better grades and are more involved in their communities."
Beth Rosenberg, child-welfare expert with Children's Action Alliance, agrees that it's best to keep kids involved in summer activities.
She and other experts say the best age to begin leaving a child alone depends on a number of factors.
"It depends on the child's developmental level, how long they will be alone, and whether there are neighbors or other adults around to help. It really depends on what else is going on," Rosenberg said.
Age 10 or 11 may be OK to be left alone for a short period of time, "but not the whole day, and certainly not at night," Rosenberg said.
Some states have laws prohibiting parents from leaving children under a certain age alone, but Arizona does not, said Liz Barker Alvarez, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, which operates Child Protective Services.
CPS counts the calls it gets alleging child abuse or neglect, but does not tally how many of the calls are about children being home alone, Alvarez said.
Complaints decrease in the summer, she said. "We think that's because in the summer kids aren't around as many adults who are required to report on neglect and abuse," she said.
When the agency receives a complaint about a child being home alone, it considers such factors as the age of the child, whether the child has a mental or physical disability, the child's understanding of safety risks and precautions, and whether there are other adults nearby, Alvarez said.
"What's appropriate for one child may not be appropriate for another child the same age," she said.
"In cases where we find inappropriate supervision of kids, we work with families on maybe identifying relatives who can help with child care, or providing a subsidy to pay for child care," she said. "Our goal is to keep the child safe by helping the parent make better choices."
● Contact reporter Jane Erikson at 573-4118 or at jerikson@azstarnet.com.
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