A Glenpool couple is facing felony child neglect charges after police found their three youngest children — ages 8, 5 and 1 — home alone while the parents were playing pickleball roughly 11 miles away. Andrew Dick and Feather Roberts were each charged with three counts of child neglect following an Aug. 30 incident that began with a 911 hang-up call reporting the children had been left without adult supervision.
According to NBC 5 Chicago, a caller contacted Roberts to check on the kids. When Roberts told the caller a babysitter was watching the children, the caller drove to the home, found no adult there, and called police, as reported by We Got This Covered. Glenpool Police responded and found the 8- and 5-year-old watching television while the 1-year-old slept, with no adult present, per the outlet's report.
Parents Say Kids Had an iPad to Reach Them
Roberts told police that she and Dick were playing pickleball 20 minutes away and that the children were with sitters, the station's report states. She also said the children could contact them using an iPad if needed. Police say childcare had been arranged, but the 8-, 5- and 1-year-old were at home without adult supervision when officers arrived — a detail that undercuts the sitter claim, since no adult was found watching the older three children when officers arrived.
The children were found safe and in good health, per Glenpool Police. Oklahoma Department of Human Services was notified about the incident, according to the same account. During separate interviews, both Dick and Roberts acknowledged to officers that Aug. 30 was not the first time they had left the three young children home alone, an admission the initial investigation corroborated.
No Bright-Line Age in Oklahoma Law
Oklahoma has no law or policy specifying the exact age at which a child may be left home alone, leaving the decision largely to parental judgment guided by state recommendations. Oklahoma guidance says infants and children under 6 should never be left alone without adult supervision, and that grade-school children should never be left in charge of caring for younger siblings. The state does allow that responsible and mature grade-school children may be left alone for one or two daytime hours with access to a responsible adult, while middle-school-aged children may be trusted with up to four hours alone during the day and evening, or left in charge of one or two younger children if a responsible adult remains constantly reachable.
That patchwork approach isn't unique to Oklahoma. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported that most states do not define what constitutes adequate supervision, even though many classify a failure to provide it as child neglect. Family therapist Sheryl Ziegler told the outlet that, generally speaking, age 12 and older is a reasonable age for a child to begin staying home alone — a benchmark roughly consistent with earlier Hoodline reporting on a Richmond Heights case involving a 7-year-old found alone.
How Nearby States Handle the Question
Illinois offers one of the few states with an established legal guideline: state law defines a neglected minor in part as a child under 14 left unsupervised for an unreasonable period without regard for the child's health, safety or welfare. An Illinois DCFS spokesperson said the agency weighs several factors when assessing whether time alone was unreasonable, including how long the child was alone, any caregiving responsibilities placed on them, access to food and shelter, safety of the environment, and whether the child knew how to reach help in an emergency. Indiana, by contrast, has no specific legal age for leaving children home alone; state law gives parents discretion to leave children unsupervised before age 18 based on maturity and environmental risk, though Indiana's state government notes parents remain legally responsible for supervision until a child turns 18.
Under Oklahoma's felony child neglect statute, Title 21 O.S. § 843.5, a conviction can carry a sentence of up to life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections, up to one year in county jail, and fines ranging from $500 to $5,000, according to Kania Law. The statute sets a range of penalties for neglect cases.
Where Roberts and Dick Were Playing
The pickleball outing took the couple to Courts & Commons in Bixby, an 8-court indoor pickleball facility and micro food hall at 7921 East 119th Drive, according to the venue's own description cited by Pickleheads. Bixby sits about 11 miles from the family's Glenpool residence, meaning the parents were a notable distance from home when the relative's call to police set the response in motion.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is mentioned in connection with guidance that age 12 is a reasonable age for a child to begin staying home alone, noting that most children younger than that lack the developmental maturity to manage emergencies on their own. The discussion also includes Oklahoma child maltreatment and injury statistics.
Glenpool has seen heightened attention to child safety in recent months. Earlier this year, Oklahoma lawmakers advanced the Talyn Bain Act, which would authorize ODOT to create reduced-speed school zones near Glenpool schools, part of a broader local push on child welfare that Hoodline covered in its report on the Glenpool speed zone crackdown. It remains unclear whether Dick and Roberts have entered pleas in the neglect case or what, if any, custody arrangements have been made for their children.
