Alone at Home: Free and Inexpensive Materials on Latchkey Children

Recent reports show that millions of children between the ages of six and thirteen must care for themselves without a parent or other adult present during out‐of school hours. These findings have brought new public attention to a problem which has long been ignored. What can be done to help the “latchkey child” make productive and safe use of this time when no parental guidance is available and other traditional substitute care may not be affordable? A number of programs are being established around the country and elsewhere in the world to deal with this problem, for the number of “latchkey children” is growing with the trend toward family patterns in which both parents work or there is a single working parent.