Taking Action for Latchkey Children and Their Families

Abstract

The term refers to unsupervised youngsters who care for themselves before or after school, on weekends, and during holidays while their parents work. They commonly carry house keys to let themselves in and out of their homes. The phenomenon of latchkey children has become a nationwide concern. The United States Department of Commerce (1976) estimates that two million or 13% of the nation's children between the ages of 7 and 13 are without adult supervision before or after school hours. Others claim that parents underreport the extent of the self-care phenomenon among school-age children because of embarrassment or guilt (Long & Long, 1 983a). It has been projected that by 1990, there may be as many as six million latchkey children in this country, if there are not already, due to the influx of more mothers into the labor force (Turkington, 1983). The increasing numbers of latchkey children have alerted educators, politicians, and people from all walks of life concerned with the welfare of youth. Researchers also have begun to study problems inherent in being a latchkey child.