Room Sharing Law in California

Updated on April 15, 2010
S.K. asks from Diamond Springs, CA
4 answers

Is there any law in California that says children of opposite sex can't share a room after a certain age? I've tried to find info online, but I'm getting conflicting answers. Does anyone know for sure?

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R.M.

answers from Nashville on

This is very old information but when I lived in California growing up there were laws about this but they only applied to RENTAL properties. If you are a renter, try contacting your landlord or property manager. If I remember correctly, it was a law that fell under whatever the Department of Child Services is called in California. So that would be who I would call to find out the current laws. I don't recall what the ages were, but I am pretty sure that school age children had to be in separate rooms.

Edit to add:
I said law, but actually, thinking about it, I don't know that it was a law, or just a guideline or something of that sort. The reason I even heard about was because a friend in school had an issue with this in their family, and it had something to do with social services visit. They were making them get a bigger apartment because of a custody issue and social services got involved and said they had to. So all of that does not amount to a law, necessarily.

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I.G.

answers from Seattle on

You can ask a lawyer, but I am pretty sure there is no such law in any state. I did a search for it a while ago and that's what came up.

Now if you are planning on fostering or adopting children, or if you are in some sort of trouble with child protective services or even in a custody situation, you might be required to provide separate rooms for children of the opposite sex. This is not due to a law, more an individuals (judge or social worker) decision what is best for a child in a given situation.

But again - I'm no lawyer...

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S.B.

answers from Redding on

I'm in California. I have a daughter and a son 10 years apart. I've never heard of any such thing. Why are you asking?
I know plenty of single moms whose kids had to share a room because they couldn't afford a bigger house. I've known married families whose kids shared a room for the same reason.
I'm not sure why you'd wonder if there is a law against it.

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T.S.

answers from Sacramento on

As best I know... there are restrictions on room sharing for FOSTER kids (limits on number of kids per room and same gender only after 5 I think) to ensure reasonable living arrangements for these kids, but if they are your OWN kids you can choose to do whatever you feel is appropriate.

I shared a room with my two brothers for a while when we were all teenagers!!! Actually we shared two beds between the two of us! We took turns sleeping on the couch in the living room. It wasn't an ideal arrangement, but it was temporary (I was leaving for college in a few months).

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