省法院裁定:加国10岁以下孩童不宜独留家中
要教小童应对：突然有人敲门、家长晚回家、火警等情形。
您家有8岁的小童吗？以下这个案件请您三思而后行。
加拿大卑诗省最高法院近日裁定，8岁孩童年纪太小，不可独留家里，安全专家也支持法庭的裁决，认为10岁以下的孩童年龄太小，心智不够成熟，不宜独留家里。
案件涉及男孩A.K.，他下课回家，他的母亲B.R.仍未下班。从周一到周五，A.K.下午放学，在3时到5时独自留在家中，没有人陪伴。社工察觉情况後，即告诉B.R.，10岁以下的孩童不能没人看管。
母留8岁子在家败诉
单亲妈妈B.R.入禀法庭，挑战监管A.K.的法令，指孩子成熟程度不同，政府没有法例规定，什麽年龄的小童可以独留家里。
她输掉诉讼，卑诗省最高法院维持裁决，认同原审法官的说法，指10岁以下的儿童不能没人看管。
卑诗省阿博斯福(Abbotsford)保护儿童安全(Kidproof Safety)机构提供独自在家(At Home Alone)计划，帮助10岁及以上孩童。
它的总裁威尔逊(Samantha Wilson)说，许多家长希望8岁、9岁的子女参加这项计划，这是他们「极不鼓励」的做法。
威尔逊说：「很多家长以为(孩童)成熟，有责任感，有时确实如此。
「但我们提醒他们，儿童只有8岁的人生经验，如何面对紧急或其他状况，父母通常没有想过。」
加拿大安全议会(Canada Safety Council)通讯及传媒项目统筹史密斯(Lewis Smith)指出，家长必须评估孩子，心智是否成熟，足以应对紧急情况，例如火警。
史密斯说：「孩童够不够成熟、聪明，作出适当反应?家长独留孩子在家，通常欠缺就是那些东西。」
安省奥兰治维尔(Orangeville)居民夸特(Janice Quirt)问她的9岁儿子乔希(Josh)，是否愿意独留家里，他根本未做好准备。但夸特设法教导儿子与她的5岁女儿戴西(Daisy)，熟习紧急应变程序。她确定孩子会用电话、发文字短讯，在必要时求救。
威尔逊说，家长不应只是问孩子，他们有没有信心独留家里，应该同时问一些可能出现的「实际状况」，例如突然有人敲门、家长晚回家，他们怎麽办。
家长要确保家居环境安全、门窗锁好，室内有灭火器。孩童遇到紧急事件，要向大人求助，可找邻近地区的成年人。
以下为英文新闻部分：
Do you have an eight-year-old kid you sometimes leave home alone? This story may make you think twice about doing that regularly.
A single mother in Terrace has lost her legal challenge to a lower court’s ruling that she must find a way for her eight-year-old son to be supervised for the two hours between the time school ends and the time she arrives home from work.
“Based on the facts of that case, the judge hearing it has determined that in those particular circumstances, it was not appropriate to leave an eight-year-old child home alone,” explains NEWS 1130 legal analyst .
He notes this decision doesn’t necessarily set a precedent.
“But certainly, it does raise the issue of what that minimum age is and what circumstances there could be at issue with doing that,” says Shapray. “People need to be cognizant of the fact a judge has made this ruling.”
There is no law in BC or Canada which outlines an exact age at which a child can be left unsupervised.
“This case may be held out by the ministry as setting some sort of a guideline, depending on how unique the facts are of the case,” says Shapray.
This case began when child and family services was notified last year that this mother was leaving her child home alone regularly.
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