Iowa Supreme Court: It's not child endangerment to leave child home alone while shopping

A Waterloo mother did not break any laws when she left her children at home while she was grocery shopping, the Iowa Supreme Court says.

The mother, Paula Cole, had been charged with and convicted of child endangerment after she left five children, ages 5 to 12, sleeping in her apartment one day in 2021 and drove to Walmart. While she was away, several of the children awoke and began arguing, resulting in her 9-year-old daughter storming out of the building.

A neighbor followed the girl out and testified she never left the property, but the child's upset older brother called police. When Cole returned from the store, she was charged with endangering the children.

Parent must 'create' danger, court rules

In its unanimous decision overturning the conviction Friday, the Supreme Court focused on the language of the statute requiring that in order to be convicted of endangerment, a parent must be found to have "created" a substantial risk to the child's health or safety. Justice David May wrote for the court that there's no evidence Cole did any such thing.

Usually, "creating" a substantial risk requires some illegal or otherwise abusive behavior, May wrote. While a parent beating a child or engaging in unsafe driving with children in the vehicle clearly creates a risk of harm, it's a different matter to leave one's children home alone in an access-secured apartment, even if a child might, theoretically, leave the apartment, cross the street and be hit by a car.

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"A parent does not create a risk if that risk is part of the background risk of ordinary life," May wrote. "Rather, a risk is created by a parent when the parent’s behavior produces an identifiable risk that falls outside the range of risks that accompany ordinary life."

Iowa Supreme Court: Parenting means managing risk

May also pointed out that nearly any choice a parent makes could result in harm befalling their child. Playing football or climbing on playground equipment could result in injury, but forbidding children to engage in fun, social activities risks other forms of harm. A parent who chooses to let a child walk to school might fear the child's abduction by a stranger, but a parent who drives the child to school exposes them to the greater risk of injury in a vehicle crash, May wrote.

Iowa law does not set a minimum age at which children can be left home alone, and in Cole's case, the court questioned whether the children would have been safer going to the store with her.

"No evidence shows that leaving the kids home was any riskier than driving them to Walmart (even assuming she had a vehicle that big)," May wrote.

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The court's decision narrows the scope a state law that some prosecutors had construed more broadly. In 2022, Johnson County prosecutors charged an Iowa City man with child endangerment after he went drinking with colleagues and later fell asleep or passed out at home with his 9-year-old daughter in the house. The defendant, who lost his job as a high school administrator after being charged, was acquitted by a jury in less than 30 minutes.

The court on Friday did not categorically rule out future prosecutions based on leaving children at home alone, but suggests there must be aggravating circumstances. May pointed to prior cases in which parents locked up a child without food or left a severely intoxicated teen with a head injury without adult supervision.

Cole's attorney, Ella Newell, praised the ruling.

"My client is pleased with the Court's decision and the outcome of her case," she said in an email. "The Supreme Court decision provides helpful guidance for child endangerment charging decisions and prosecutions."

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Supreme Court says mom who left kids home alone didn't break law