South Carolina Family Law Blog : Spartanburg Divorce Lawyer & Attorney : The Stevens Law Firm : South Carolina Family Law Serving Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Hilton Head Island

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission offers the following tips on costumes, treats and decorations to help your children trick-or-treat safely this year:

Costumes:

• When purchasing costumes, masks, beards and wigs, look for flame-resistant fabrics such as nylon or polyester, or look for the label "Flame Resistant." Flame-resistant fabrics will resist burning and should extinguish quickly. To minimize the risk of contact with candles and other fire sources, avoid costumes made with flimsy materials and outfits with big, baggy sleeves or billowing skirts.
• Purchase or make costumes that are light, bright and clearly visible to motorists.
• For greater visibility during dusk and darkness, decorate or trim costumes with reflective tape that will glow in the beam of a car's headlights. Bags or sacks also should be light colored or decorated with reflective tape. Reflective tape is usually available in hardware, bicycle and sporting goods stores.
• Children should carry flashlights to see and be seen.
• Costumes should fit well and not drag on the ground to guard against trips and falls.
• Children should wear well-fitting, sturdy shoes. Oversized high heels are not a good idea.
• Tie hats and scarves securely to prevent them from slipping over children's eyes and obstructing vision.
• If your child wears a mask, make sure it fits securely, provides adequate ventilation, and has eye holes large enough to allow full vision.
• Swords, knives and similar costume accessories should be made of soft, flexible materials.

Treats:

• Warn children not to eat any treats until an adult has examined them carefully for evidence of tampering.
• Carefully examine any toys or novelty items received by trick-or-treaters under three years of age. Do not allow young children to have any items that are small enough to present a choking hazard or that have small parts or components that could separate during use and present a choking hazard.

Decorations:

• Keep candles and Jack O' Lanterns away from landings and doorsteps where costumes could brush against the flame.
• Remove obstacles from lawns, steps and porches when expecting trick-or-treaters.
• Indoors, keep candles and Jack O' Lanterns away from curtains, decorations and other combustibles that could catch fire. Do not leave burning candles unattended.
• Indoors or outside, use only lights that have been tested for safety by a recognized testing laboratory. Check each set of lights, new or old, for broken or cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires, or loose connections. Discard damaged sets.
• Don't overload extension cords.

Source:  "CPSC Reminds Parents to Keep Trick-or-Treaters Safe this Halloween"

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In child custody cases, parents often accuse each other of leaving the child inadequately supervised.  The allegations can be that the child was left home alone or left with someone who cannot properly supervise the child (such as relatives who are too old or too young).  Left Unsupervised: A Look at the Most Vulnerable Children, a 2003 study published by the non-profit research organization Child Trends addressed the large number of children are left without care and supervision by their parents.

Surprisingly, most States do not have regulations or laws about when a child is considered old enough to care for himself/herself or to care for other children.  Some states have guidelines or recommendations that are usually distributed through child protective services at the county level.  Similarly, reports of child neglect can be made to the S.C. Department of Social Services, though the response their tends to be very inconsistent and erratic.

As a practical matter, the difficulty in this area centers on the fact that every child is different.  Establishing a rule that a child must be X years old to stay home alone or supervise other children would not solve this problem, because some children are mature at an early age, some are immature, and many fall somewhere in the middle.  Wise parents base their decision about leaving his or her minor child unsupervised upon careful consideration of the child's maturity and emotional stability.

Family dynamics also must play a part in a parent's decisions about child care. Should a sibling be left in charge of younger siblings? If so, how old should that sibling be? How long should or could he/she be in charge? In some families, it would never work to leave one child in charge because of family dynamics, sibling rivalries, or other special challenges faced by one of more of the children.  The maturity and capabilities of the elected babysitter should be the controlling factors.

To help parents ensure that their children are safe, the University of Michigan Health System has compiled an excellent resource Babysitter Safety - What Parents and Sitters Need to Know.  This website includes the following types of information:  how to choose a babysitter, things to tell the sitter before you leave, information sitters should have, resources for sitters, the dangers of leaving kids home alone, information about problems associated with sibling sitters, and more.

Source:  "Home Alone: Child Care and Babysitter Issues" by Jeanne M. Hannah, published at her Updates in Michigan Family Law blog.

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