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In less than two weeks, six Quincy children have died in two separate fires. And although the circumstances were dramatically different--in one instance, a fire was intentionally set, in the other, it was an accident-- in both cases, the kids  were all home alone.

KHQA's Melissa Shriver asked the questions many of you have: why this continues to happen, and what needs to be done to stop it.

The first thing we found out from the social service agencies we spoke with is that  it's extremely rare for area social service agencies to see parents leaving kids at extremely young ages home alone.

Is there a particular age at which a child can be left alone?

Shari Robesky, child protection supervisor said, "There is really no definitive hard and fast rule on that. The parent needs to use good judgement and think about the particular child and circumstances to make the decision for themselves and children."

Robeski, with the Department of Child and Family Services,. says there are several key indicators that your child is ready to be left home alone.

Some of those indicators include the age of the child, if the child has any special needs, if the child is going to be responsible for themselves or other children and how long parents plan to leave them alone.

"Can that child make personal safety decisions? If someone knocks at the door do they know what to do? If they get a phone call do they know what to do?"

That includes teaching your child what a smoke alarm means and who to call if something goes wrong.

Chief Rob Copley of the Quincy Police Department said, "The recurring theme here is that small children cannot fend for themselves in emergency situations that we've had here involving these fires. My strongest message I have for the community today is please don't leave your small children home alone, don't do it for a minute, not for a half a minute, I don't care how important your errand is, take your children with you. It doesn't take long for a tragedy to occur.

Quincy Mayor John Spring reinforced that statement: "You don't leave your young children at home unattended. If you have young children do not leave them unattended period. Take them with you or provide for a reliable babysitter or another family member."

 If you'd like to learn more about when it's OKto leave your child at home, log onto the Department of Child and Family Services website.

Click on Library and look for the brochure "Preparing Children to Stay Alone."