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Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania
Avoiding Unwanted Teenage Parties in Your Home
The purpose of this article is to give parents another option in preventing unwanted alcohol and drug parties. Imagine the following situation. You go away for a skiing weekend, leaving your seventeen year old daughter in charge. She has always been very responsible. You come back to find some of your furniture broken and your rug stained. Eventually, your daughter admits that a party took place in the house. It started out innocently enough with her inviting over a few friends. Before she knew it, word had spread that her parents were away and the rest is history. Lucky for you, no one had gotten hurt during the party. Your daughter said the police had come during the evening indicating they had a compliant from a neighbor about the noise. So why didn't the police bust the party?
Unfortunately, the freedom of the police in handling these situations is limited. If your daughter gives them permission to enter the house, they could search for alcohol or drugs. Most teens are not going to give them permission for fear of getting busted. If there is visible alcohol or drug consumption or one of the party goers is visibly impaired, the police may then take action. Many teens realize they can party all they want inside and if there is no visible reason to investigate, the police cannot go into your house without permission or just cause, as they would be in violation of your rights.
There is a solution. When you are going away for a short period of time, go down to the township building and fill out a "Request for consent to enter house check/release of liability form". This form allows you to specify the length of time (from a single evening up to three nights) that you will be away. You can list who is permitted to be in the house during this time period. The police will check the house and only if suspicious activity is taking place will they enter the house. The form gives more detail as to procedures that will be followed. Certainly you will want to make sure the procedures are acceptable to your situation.
While this form is typically used by parents who have had previous problems with their teenagers, a parent would be wise to consider it even for "good kids". It can take the pressure off them to be coerced into having a party while their parents are away. Knowing the house will be watched and the police have the right to enter if suspicious activity is occurring is a deterrent to having a party occur.