Fire kills 10 children at slumber party - no adults were home at the time, officials say

[jpak]

https://fox8.com/2018/08/29/fire-kills-10-children-at-slumber-party-no-adults-were-home-at-the-time-officials-say/

CHICAGO – How, how, how? The question weighs on investigators as they work to determine what led to a Chicago house fire that killed 10 apparently unaccompanied children who had gathered for a slumber party at a West Side home.

Illinois authorities are investigating allegations of neglect, officials said Tuesday, but provided little additional detail -- adding to a litany of questions about what started the fire and why the children weren't able to get out.

Eight bodies were discovered Sunday after firefighters put out the fire. Two more victims, both 14, later died at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, said Natalia Derevyanny, a Cook County Bureau of Administration spokeswoman.

The fire started on the second floor of a coach house in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, fire officials said. Those same officials said there were no smoke detectors in the home, but Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters there were no functioning smoke detectors in the home.

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[dlk]

1. Reckless Abandonment

[WillowTree]

2. Heartbreaking.

[jalan48]

3. Incredibly tragic for everyone involved.

[mr_lebowski]

4. Wow, this is TERRIBLE ... damn it ... poor babies ...

Someone needs to pay ...

[Catherine Vincent]

5. Damn...sigh! :(

[haele]

6. I've heard of "parent's night out" slumber parties before - quite a bit back when I was younger.

A group of parents will head out as a group, leaving all the kids in the largest home having a "slumber party", with a 14 or 15 year old nominally in charge of the kids.
The parents in these cases typically come rolling back anywhere from 2 to 6 am, pick up the kids, and head back to their own homes. Doesn't matter the socio-economic class, race, or marital status of the parents; they usually considered it similar to having a baby-sitter come by and watch the house and kids while they went clubbing.

Heck, I started getting paid to babysit (for up to 5 hours) for neighbors with one or two small children at 13 back in the 1970's; my mother and her older brother were often left alone at nights after grandmother died of industrial-based cancer after my mom was 8 and uncle was 11 because Pappi had to work nights - and he didn't have money to pay the neighbors or any of the neighbor kids to watch them.

Every night, out of the nearly a million or so times across the country that parents leave their kids home alone for any period of time(either because they have to work, or because they wanted to/had to go out), nothing happens other than refrigerator raiding, un-brushed teeth, possible tummy aches and later than desired bed times. Are such actions within the definition of parental neglect?
This was the 1 in 1000K instance that something truly bad actually happened.
As a risk assessment, it's actually pretty low leaving one or two children who aren't infants alone with a teenager who is willing to be responsible for a few hours.
It's still far more harmful in terms of risk to a child's overall well-being to be a fearfilled by-the-book helicopter parent than to have the occasional affordable babysitter because mommy and daddy need their time.

Sounds as if it was an old home to begin with, the house being identified as "a coach house". I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were faulty wiring or an appliance - like a toaster oven - left on when the kids went to bed.

Accidents happen, even when there are the best of intentions to keep the children safe.

Haele