Hawke's Bay police say they were appalled to find four children left at home alone while their parents worked an overnight shift.
Officers were called to a Flaxmere house at about 1am on Sunday where they discovered four children, aged one, three, eight and 10 years.
Their mother and father had left home to work a nine-hour night shift at a local food processor, police say.
The children were placed in the care of other family members for the rest of the night.