How young is too young to be home alone after school?

According to a ruling this week from a judge in British Columbia, eight is too young. But the mother in that case is not backing down and plans to continue fighting.

The case involves a Terrace, B.C. single mother who decided her eight-year-old boy was mature enough to go stay home after school, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., when she came home from work.

According to the mother’s lawyer, Wade MacGregor, it was not a decision she made lightly.

“She discussed with him the option of him staying at home and the safety precautions that would be taken if he did stay at home and concluded that he was mature enough and knowledgeable enough,” MacGregor told CTV Vancouver.

A neighbour who saw the boy home alone called the Ministry of Children and Family Development and a social worker was sent to investigate.

The social worker told the mother a child under the age of 10 was not allowed to be left alone. The mother argued that children mature at different rates and that there was no law stating how old children have to be to stay on their own.

With the support of the boy’s father, the social worker’s director took the matter to provincial court to apply for an interim supervision order.

In court, the social worker testified that, in her opinion “children who are eight years of age do not have the cognitive ability to be left unsupervised.”

She said there were too many risks of leaving a child of that age alone, “regardless of his level of maturity.” She also said she knew of numerous instances in which children under 10 had “come to harm” when left unsupervised.

Based on that testimony, the judge imposed an interim supervision order, which states the boy must be under the supervision of an adult at all times. The order also states that if the mother refuses to comply with the terms, it will result in the removal of the boy and the mother's other, younger child.

The mother appealed the ruling, but this week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge upheld the supervision order.

The mother has now decided to move to a child protection hearing to determine if her now nine-year-old can stay home alone -- or if the order to supervise will stand.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Shannon Paterson