Responsibilities And Liabilities Of Boarding A Minor

Location: Pennsylvania

My girlfriend has a 16 year old acquaintance she met through a convoluted process a few years ago and the two of them have kept up contact since then. This child attempted suicide and after being psychiatrically cleared at a hospital she returned to her boarding school, but the school will not let her leave its clinic to return to her dormitory or to classes until some arbitrary amount of time has passed. Unfortunately this child has no relatives anywhere within the US, and her mother’s plan was to have her fly to California to stay with her (the mother’s) new boyfriend.

My girlfriend offered to let her stay at our house, which we own jointly. I told her that I think this is a terrible idea for multiple reasons, the biggest of which is that we will both be out of the house at during the day all week and that if the child harms herself that we may be charged with child endangerment. To add an extra twist to it, my girlfriend is a psychiatrist, so I think she should know better, and I said as much when she told me parents are never arrested for child endangerment when they bring their kids in after suicide attempts - that the professional knowledge she possesses and the specific situation of knowing she had just attempted suicide would make her even more likely to be charged. I told her that the necessity to have her be supervised is why the school won’t let her return to her dorm room in the first place.

In any event it looks like I’ve lost the argument, so my second question is whether I would be at all culpable were something to happen since we’re not married. I’ve already asked my girlfriend to lock away all the alcohol, medications, and sharp implements, but I’m still quite nervous about this.