State Laws And Let Grow Updates in North Dakota

North Dakota makes it a felony to fail to exercise proper parental care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for the child’s physical, mental, or emotional health, or morals, including “associating with vagrants or vicious or immoral persons” or failing to exercise reasonable diligence in “preventing the child from engaging in, an occupation forbidden by the laws of this state or an occupation injurious to the child’s health or morals or the health or morals of others.” N.D. Cent. Code § 14-09-22.

A neglected child is without proper care or control, subsistence, education as required by law, or other care or control necessary for the child’s physical, mental, or emotional health, or morals, and is not due primarily to the lack of financial means of a person responsible for the child’s welfare. N.D. Century Code § 50-25.1-02. This law has no specific provision as to lack of supervision or children being alone. North Dakota has a policy brochure, however, that is quite liberal in recognizing that children can be unsupervised from ages 9 and up. While it states that a child 0-4 should never be left in a car alone, it also says that 9-year-olds should not be unsupervised for more than two hours, should not supervise other children, and should not be left alone at night while 10-to-11-year-olds can be left alone for longer periods of time but should not supervise other children or be left alone at night. 12 years and older may babysit. Children under 15 should not be left alone at night. Caution should be taken leaving 15-to-17-year-olds alone at night. DHS Guideline. A very different definition of neglect than the one in the statute appears in another child welfare publication, however: Child Neglect is a continued failure to provide a child with needed care and protection, involving issues with inadequate supervision, abandonment, environment, nutrition, clothing/hygiene, medical neglect, educational neglect, failure to protect, prenatal exposure to alcohol or controlled substances, and/or environmental exposure to controlled substances. This pamphlet is from an agency called “Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota”.

This webpage is not a legal document, and Let Grow does not take responsibility for the content. Be mindful that some localities have rules and guidelines even when the state does not. When in doubt, consult your local authorities to confirm the laws where you live. What’s more, laws change, as do judicial interpretations of them, and this webpage may not be updated immediately.