Home Alone
Home Alone Booklet Solo en Casa (Spanish version)
Making decisions as a parent can be overwhelming. The following information will help you think about options that you may not have considered. Remember you are not alone. Consider making decisions with the help of other people who care about you or your children.
Call the Parenting WARMLINE at Family Resources for to discuss your concerns or to talk about any non medical parenting questions at 412-641-4546 or 1-877-WARMLYN.
Representatives from a number of different agencies published this booklet and compiled the information on this web page. For more details about those involved with this effort, visit Partner List and Web Sites.
Home Alone Frequently Asked Questions
If your child is not ready to be home alone, here are places where you can look for help:
- family, friends or neighbors you can trust
- other parents who also need child care and can take turns with you
- A babysitting cooperative consists of a number of families in a community who decide to share babysitting among themselves without the exchange of money.
www.nncc.org/Choose.Quality.Care/qual.sitter.coop.html
A babysitting co-op gives you:
- a babysitter you can share with other parents
- after school care at your child’s school
- Care.com offers a wide variety of free child care resources and articles, giving advice on everything from choosing a babysitter to child care challenges such as separation anxiety, in addition to its searchable index of local care providers. www.care.com
- The YWCA exists to enable all women to reach their full potential. YWCA provides access to education, services and jobs to enable women of all ages to contribute their talents fully and achieve financial security.
www.ywcapgh.org
http://humanservices.net/?keyword=ywca
- The Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania is a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for youth, with particular emphasis on members who live in urban communities of highly diverse cultures. The primary mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania is to promote health, social, educational, vocational and character development for boys and girls ages 6 through 18, by self-esteem, values, and skills.
www.bgcwpa.org
http://humanservices.net/?keyword=boys%20and%20girls%20club
- Beverly Jewel Wall Lovelace Children's Program (BJWL), located in 19 public and subsidized housing communities throughout Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, provides safe after school and summer programs six days a week for children ages 5-16. BJWL offers social, emotional, academic, recreational, and other resources for families. 412-363-1702
http://humanservices.net/?keyword=bjwl
- The Greater Pittsburgh Council, Boy Scouts of America, has a membership of over 47,000 young people participating in all phases of the Scouting program: Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturing.
www.gpc-bsa.org
- Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.
www.girlscouts-wpa.org
- Family Support in Allegheny County is based on the philosophy that the most effective way to insure the healthy development and growth of small children is by supporting the families and communities in which they live. These programs are designed to increase the strength and stability of families, to increase parents’ confidence and competence in their parenting abilities, to afford children a stable and supportive family environment. Family Support programs seek to provide intensive, comprehensive, and culturally relevant services to families through collaboration of public, private and community-based agencies. The programming of family support represents a countywide "prevention agenda" focusing on the critical area of strengthening families and network-building.
http://humanservices.net/?keyword=fsc
- Local libraries may have events or programs that would interest your children. Although it is not appropriate to leave young children in a library alone, resources in the library may help connect you with events and activities in your neighborhood.
www.pittsburgh.net/yellow_pages.cfm?chr=library
- Once school is out, parents are faced with the reality that their children have too much free time. Summer camp may be an option. To search over 650 summer camps, please follow the link below. Remember to start asking as early as March about scholarships available to reduce costs for summer camp.
http://humanservices.net/?keyword=summer%20camp
- The United Way of Pittsburgh offers a guide called the Parents Guide to Happy and Health Kids which details information about fitness and nutrition, after-school care, parenting tips and more.
www.unitedwaypittsburgh.org
- “Respite” refers to short term, temporary care provided to people with disabilities in order for their families to take a break from the daily routine of care giving.
- The Special Kids Network’s regional staff in collaboration with their partners and the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Children with Special Health Care Needs Consultants produced the Family Guide to Respite Care (PDF) guide in response to a recognized need to fill a gap in respite care services for families with children with special health care needs. This guide was developed to assist in defining respite care, highlight benefits of respite care, outline what to expect from respite providers, explain what is expected of you, and provide a list of possible local agencies that help families locate respite programs in their area. Working with state agencies and community organizations, the guide was developed to decrease the informational gap in obtaining respite care services for children with special health care needs.
http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/lib/health/familyhealth/familyguidetorespitecare.pdf
- The Allegheny County Respite Care Coalition (ACRCC) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to helping families access quality respite care. Respite refers to short-term, temporary care. It is typically provided for people with special needs so that caregivers, family members, foster parents, or friends can take a break from the daily routine of care giving.
www.acrcc.org
- child care centers with after school programs
If you need help paying for child care:
- Ask if your employer has workplace incentives -- like Family Savings Account programs or inexpensive childcare options.
- Some Family Savings Account Programs offered through community agencies encourage low and moderate-income families to enhance their self-sufficiency by building financial assets.
http://humanservices.net/?keyword=family%20savings%20account
- See if a local child care center has scholarships or subsidies for after-school care.
- Call Child Care Partnerships 412-261-2273 to see if you qualify for subsidized child care.
www.ywcapgh.org/ccis.asp
Partners - the following organizations were involved in this awareness effort.
Allegheny County Department of Human Services
Allegheny County Intermediate Unit www.aiu3.net
Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh www.chp.edu
Children, Youth and Families Advisory Board
Family Communications www.fci.org
Family Resources www.familyresourcesofpa.org
Pittsburgh Public Schools: Pittsburgh Mt Oliver Intermediate Unit www.pps.k12.pa.us/pps/site/default.asp