Parents Rights and Responsibilities At what age can I be home alone? When can I babysit other children? What do my parents or guardians need to provide for me if I’m under 16? Can my parents decide where I live? My basic needs are not being met at home, what can I do? Who is my guardian? What does being a guardian mean? How long does guardianship last? Can I make my own decisions about my life? When can I make my own decisions independently? Can I challenge the decisions made by my guardian(s) before I am 18 years old?
As you get older and develop your own opinions, it is likely that you will have different views from your parents on what is best for you.
It is important for you to know when you can make important decisions about your life, so this page has information about your basic rights (which overlap with the rights and responsibilities your parents have towards you) and your basic responsibilities towards others.
If you are under 14 years old, your parents or carers cannot leave you alone without making a reasonable arrangement for your supervision and care. This usually means making sure you have a babysitter or an older family member to look after you, but it can also mean making sure you are safe and not left for a long time. This isn’t just for being home alone — it also applies to when you are left alone in the car or any other situation that could potentially lead to harm. However, even if you are 14 or slightly older, leaving you to look after yourself could still be considered neglect or abuse in some situations. This will depend on how mature you are and how long you are left alone. The Ministry for Children (Oranga Tamariki) can become involved in your life if they think you are in need of care and protection
Generally, at 14 years and older you can be home alone and babysit children under 14. However, as above, leaving a 14-year-old to look after themself and others could still be considered neglect or abuse in some situations.
Until you are 16 years old, your parents or guardians must provide for your basic needs. This includes enough food, clothing, housing/shelter, and medical treatment to survive. You also need to receive an education. If your parents do not make sure your basic needs are being met, they could be committing a serious crime.
As part of providing for your needs, your parents can decide where you live while you are under 16 years old. This can involve them deciding that you should live with someone else, or you might agree with them that you will live with someone else if that works better for your situation. However, your parents are still financially responsible for you in these situations, so they must still pay for your needs to be met unless the person looking after you has agreed to pay for your needs.
If your basic needs are not being met at home, and/or if you are being physically, emotionally or sexually abused, you can contact Oranga Tamariki (OT). If, after investigating, OT find that you are not in a safe environment, they can take steps to have you placed with foster parents or in an OT residence. There are no guarantees where OT will place you or how long they will place you somewhere for, but they are responsible for placing you in a safe environment.
You can also contact the Police, or organisations like Women’s Refuge, Shine and Shakti.
Generally, your parents are your legal guardians, even if they are not together. Your mother is automatically a guardian, while your father may be a guardian depending on his relationship with your mother at the time you were born.
If your parents pass away, they may select someone to be your guardian under their will. The Court can also appoint guardians, such as another adult, the Oranga Tamariki (OT), or the Court itself to be your guardian. The Court also has the power to remove guardians in certain situations, but this doesn’t happen often.
When an adult is the guardian of a child, they have rights and responsibilities in relation to raising the child. These include:
Guardianship lasts until you turn 18 years of age, or until you get married, enter a civil union, or live with someone as a de facto partner. However, as you grow older, you should have a bigger influence over important decisions in your life, even while your guardians are still involved in those decisions.
In a court situation, the judge must listen and take account of your views before making decisions about who has guardianship over you. This is because, legally, your welfare and best interests are the most important factors for the Court to think about when making these decisions. However, most disputes don’t end up at Court because it is a very long, expensive and stressful process.
Your guardians will probably make a lot of decisions for you while you live with them. Your welfare and best interests must be their number one goal, and they should include your thoughts and encourage you to be involved in making decisions. It is important to remember that your parents or guardians will often make good decisions for you, even if you don’t always agree with them.
If you are aged 16 years or older and disagree with a decision made by your parents or guardians, you can ask the Family Court to overrule the decision. However, the Family Court will usually not get involved in minor family situations like whether you can go to your friend’s sleepover.
From the age of 18, your parents’ guardianship rights over you come to an end. From this time, you can now make important decisions for yourself, even if your choices are different to what your parents’ would be. When making important decisions, it is a good idea to keep getting advice from your parents or from other people you trust and respect.
At 16, you can move out of home without your parents’ consent if you move into a safe environment. Moving out will probably mean that you will start making most of your own decisions, but also that you will probably be responsible for your financial situation and any risks you take.
Also at 16, if your parents or guardians have made a decision that you think is wrong, you can apply to the Family Court for a Judge to change this decision. The Judge will do this only if the decision is about something important, and if they think your parents have made the wrong decision.