This might be a strange question, but what struck me about the article was that the older kid didn't have a key to the house or else know where a key was hidden around the house.
When I was a kid (and my parents don't live there anymore) I knew the key to the house was hidden underneath a bird feeder among some bushes out front. I knew that from a very young age. When I got older, I got a key of my own. In fact, I still have that key. At 39, my parents still trust me with a key to their house. I also know where the key is hidden around the house.
At age 11, lots of kids have keys to their own house. With two parents working, it is a pretty normal thing all across this country from 11-year-old kids to be left alone after school.
As for Child Protective Services: I don't know how it is where this story was written, but they are overwhelmed in my county and only act in the most egregious of cases. Some 11-year-old playing in the yard while unsupervised wouldn't even register on their radar. They're more busy with kids who are living in the family car, a camper in the dead of winter, or who having the tar beaten out of them on a regular basis. Maybe in other parts of the country, CPS has time to deal with a kid who looks unsupervised.
