Family in Simi ‘Home-Alone’ Case Is Reunited

The Simi Valley couple who left four children, ages 6 to 13, home alone while they took a four-day trip have been reunited with the youngsters, but the parents may still be charged with child endangerment, police said Wednesday.

The parents’ attorney, Pat K. Bowen, insisted that his clients should not face criminal charges because the law doesn’t specify when youngsters are old enough to be left unattended.

“This is a no-case,” Bowen said. “There are no legal guidelines regarding matters like this. These are areas that are traditionally left to the parents’ discretion.”

Nevertheless, Simi Valley police and child-welfare officials said the parents may have given too much responsibility to the eldest child.

Officers, who were asked to check the house after the children did not show up at school Monday, found four healthy youngsters and plenty of food at home--but no adults.

“I would be concerned about a 13-year-old’s ability to manage and supervise three younger siblings,” said Sally Allen, program manager with Ventura County’s Children’s Services Division. “Just because nothing happens doesn’t mean it’s OK.”

The Simi Valley case followed a highly publicized Chicago-area incident in which a couple were arrested for leaving their daughters, ages 9 and 4, at home alone while traveling to Mexico on a nine-day vacation.

Simi Valley Police Lt. Robert Klamser said the Simi Valley children were three boys, ages 13, 8 and 6, and a 10-year-old girl.

Klamser said their parents were in Northern California, apparently on business.

“The issue is what happened when the parents weren’t there,” he said. “At the time we took them into protective custody, what we knew is that the kids had been unsupervised since Thursday. We were unable to contact the parents.

“Under those circumstances, especially since we were able to locate another relative for them to be placed with, that was the safe thing to do.”

Klamser said the children were given back to their parents when they returned because officers did not believe that the parents posed a threat to the youngsters under normal circumstances.

Police records show that officers were called to a house on Chantry Circle, in the posh Oakridge Estates neighborhood in western Simi Valley, on Monday afternoon regarding a child-neglect report.

Although their names were not officially disclosed, county property and voter registration records show that the house mentioned in the police report is owned by Armand E. D’Alo, 36, and Robbin M. D’Alo, 35.

A woman who answered the D’Alos’ telephone Wednesday night said reports about the “home alone” incident were being presented “out of context.” She declined to comment further, referring all other questions to Bowen, whom she described as the family’s attorney.

Klamser disputed Bowen’s view that state child-neglect laws did not apply because the youngsters were not injured and because the law does not specify who is too young to be left alone.

“There’s no absolute standard in the law,” Klamser said. “But the law says it is unlawful to leave any child under 18 in a circumstance where they are endangered.”

He said a parent could face criminal charges for leaving a toddler alone near a back-yard swimming pool, even if the child does not fall in.

In this case, Klamser said, investigators will try to determine whether the 13-year-old could have responded properly in an emergency and whether adults nearby had been asked to look in on the children.

He said Simi Valley police will present their findings next week to the Ventura County district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file criminal charges.

The county’s children’s services staff will also investigate, Allen said, and can ask a Juvenile Court judge to impose conditions on parents even if no criminal charges are filed.

“What we’re doing is evaluating the facts involved to determine whether there are risks involved to the child,” she said.

A judge could order counseling for the parents or simply prohibit them from leaving the children alone.

Although she could not comment on the Simi Valley case because of privacy laws, Allen said that most calls that her agency receives about unattended children involve youngsters who have no supervision after school while their parents are at work.

Incidents in which preteens are left alone for several days are rare, she said. Teen-agers are probably left alone more often, she said, although it usually does not come to the attention of authorities unless the teen-agers cause trouble in the neighborhood or encounter an emergency that they cannot handle.

Parents must consider maturity, not just age, in deciding whether to leave a child alone, Allen said. But she added that it is highly unlikely that a 13-year-old could care properly for three younger siblings for several days.

“A 13-year-old is a child himself,” Allen said. “He should not be expected to play the role of a parent.”

Bowen, the Simi Valley couple’s attorney, said Wednesday that his clients had planned their trip carefully and arranged a “support network” of adults the children could contact if a problem arose.

“I’m an old family friend,” Bowen said. “These are not neglectful people. These are not people who don’t care about their children.”

He said the parents were trying to instill responsibility in their children and did not believe that their conduct was unlawful.

“Parents have to have a certain amount of discretion as to how they allow their kids to grow up,” Bowen said. “If the government is going to enforce a rule, they ought to tell us what the rule is first.”

Times correspondent Andrew LePage contributed to this story.