A restricted area alarm confinement system includes a loop antenna for placement about the border of an area within which a child or other person is desired to be confined, or excluded from, a control panel for recording a voice command in the parent's voice, and means for generating an RF signal encoded with said prerecorded voice command for transmission over said antenna. A transceiver is mounted to a harness or other support for attachment to the child such that as the child approaches the antenna the parent's voice command is received from the antenna and announced to the child to encourage him to withdraw from the border. A threshold level detector detects when the child approaches even closer to the antenna and the transceiver includes a transmitter section for transmitting a warning signal to a beeper/receiver held by the parent. The control panel further includes monitoring circuits for monitoring the integrity of the loop antenna and the AC power supply. If a break is detected in the loop antenna, or if the control panel switches to its included battery backup, a display provides a visual message and an announcement is made over a speaker in the control panel to alert the operator that a system failure has occurred.