Free Range parents to sue police for detaining their children

[rightwinger]

Kids were three blocks from home

Initial response from the police should be to drive the kids home and speak to the parents

They may have been that close, but did the kids know their address?

we're only getting one side of this story and i suspect that it's incomplete.

At 10 years old? Thats fifth grade

You think a kid doesn't know where he lives?

LOL! They were walking home from a park less than a mile from home. One of the first things my kids learned is to recite their address and find their way home from anywhere in the neighborhood.

I still remember the address and phone number from where I lived when I was five years old and that was over 50 years ago. That is how firmly it was drilled into my head

Ditto. I can still picture in my head exactly the route I walked to school in first and second grade.

I walked to school in first and second grade also

I also knew every backyard, hole in the fence, back alley and driveway that I could take to get there faster

 

[rightwinger]

“Free Range” Parents Found Guilty of Child Neglect for Letting Kids Walk Home From Park
Free Range Parents Found Guilty of Child Neglect for Letting Kids Walk Home From Park The Free Thought Project

The “unsubstantiated child neglect” charge means that the case will remain in the state’s database for five years if no further reports are added to the file.


“I don’t want there to be a file. We never should have been on their radar in the first place. We shouldn’t be in their system at all and certainly not with some allegation of neglect, whether substantiated or not,” said Danielle Meitiv, a writer and science consultant.


The Meitivs intend on appealing the charge in hopes of getting it expunged. However in what sounds like a retaliatory move, Sandra Barnes, Assistant Attorney General in the Maryland Department of Human Resources claims that such a move may lead to the charge being escalated to an “indicated” child neglect case.


“I absolutely am nervous, and that’s why we have to fight this,” said Danielle. “What happens the next time? I refuse to be bullied into this, ‘We know this is right and healthy for our kids, but we’re going to keep them home because we’re scared of CPS?’ That’s just insane. That’s why we have to fight it.”


The Meitivs believe in a parenting style labeled as the free-range kids movement. They believe that giving children independence rather than helicopter parenting is a much healthier way to raise responsible children.

It should be up to the parent to decide the safety of the neighborhood and maturity of their children in how much freedom they are allowed

If the state feels otherwise, the burden of proof should be on them

 

[rightwinger]

Then there was this 4 year old in Philadelphia

Philadelphia girl 4 boards 3 a.m. bus in search of slushie - NY Daily News

A 4-year-old woke in the middle of the night, slipped out of her house and boarded a 3 a.m. Philadelphia bus in search of a slushie, transit authorities said.
The strawberry blond tike, dressed in a purple raincoat and pajama pants, surprised passengers and the bus driver when she climbed aboard the early morning ride.
“I was like, You gotta be kidding me — at this time, at 3 o’clock in the morning?” SEPTA driver Harlan Jenifer told WPVI. “She’s a small little thing. It just kind of shocked me.”
A man spotted the wandering child on the sidewalk Friday and flagged down the bus. Surveillance video shows the little girl hop up the steps as bewildered passengers quiz her about her plans. She can be seen shrugging as her tiny, white boots dangle from her seat.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Don't public schools require kids that age to walk further than this?

Yeah, but in my neighborhood I see parents sitting in their cars while their kids wait for the bus in the morning. These are middle school kids for God's sake. My bus stop in elementary school was a mile from the house and I walked to and from it everyday by myself.

In some towns, buses will not drop off children younger than high school age unless a parent is there waiting.

 

[Jarlaxle]

“Free Range” Parents Found Guilty of Child Neglect for Letting Kids Walk Home From Park
Free Range Parents Found Guilty of Child Neglect for Letting Kids Walk Home From Park The Free Thought Project

The “unsubstantiated child neglect” charge means that the case will remain in the state’s database for five years if no further reports are added to the file.


“I don’t want there to be a file. We never should have been on their radar in the first place. We shouldn’t be in their system at all and certainly not with some allegation of neglect, whether substantiated or not,” said Danielle Meitiv, a writer and science consultant.


The Meitivs intend on appealing the charge in hopes of getting it expunged. However in what sounds like a retaliatory move, Sandra Barnes, Assistant Attorney General in the Maryland Department of Human Resources claims that such a move may lead to the charge being escalated to an “indicated” child neglect case.


“I absolutely am nervous, and that’s why we have to fight this,” said Danielle. “What happens the next time? I refuse to be bullied into this, ‘We know this is right and healthy for our kids, but we’re going to keep them home because we’re scared of CPS?’ That’s just insane. That’s why we have to fight it.”


The Meitivs believe in a parenting style labeled as the free-range kids movement. They believe that giving children independence rather than helicopter parenting is a much healthier way to raise responsible children.

They now need to leave the state immediately, and at least consider skipping the country.

 

[rightwinger]

Don't public schools require kids that age to walk further than this?

Yeah, but in my neighborhood I see parents sitting in their cars while their kids wait for the bus in the morning. These are middle school kids for God's sake. My bus stop in elementary school was a mile from the house and I walked to and from it everyday by myself.

In some towns, buses will not drop off children younger than high school age unless a parent is there waiting.

Ridiculous

I remember latchkey kids who would return home to empty houses and wait for a parent to return from work

I guess kids today are not as responsible as they were thirty years ago

 

[Jarlaxle]

No...school administrators are just a lot more terrified of getting sued.

 

[dblack]

I think the free-range thing is working out pretty well. These kids have learned an important lesson about authoritarian government.

 

[Agit8r]

Parents should always have the "Don't talk to police" talk with their kids to avoid this sort of fascist nonsense.

 

[Ravi]

Parents should always have the "Don't talk to police" talk with their kids to avoid this sort of fascist nonsense.

They might get shot for resisting arrest.

 

[rightwinger]

Parents should always have the "Don't talk to police" talk with their kids to avoid this sort of fascist nonsense.

They might be labeled as snitches

 

[Roadrunner]

I suspect there is more to this story

Yes, some nosey helicopter moms who can't tell their kids no most of the time, having to explain to their little brats why they can't go outside and play, free and easy, like kids have always done.

 

[Roadrunner]

Don't public schools require kids that age to walk further than this?

Yeah, but in my neighborhood I see parents sitting in their cars while their kids wait for the bus in the morning. These are middle school kids for God's sake. My bus stop in elementary school was a mile from the house and I walked to and from it everyday by myself.

Here they line up and take up to an hour to pick up kids that could walk or take a bus home.

Mine always walked home rather than take the bus, because it took much less time.

 

[Roadrunner]

Kids were three blocks from home

Initial response from the police should be to drive the kids home and speak to the parents

They may have been that close, but did the kids know their address?

we're only getting one side of this story and i suspect that it's incomplete.

At 10 years old? Thats fifth grade

You think a kid doesn't know where he lives?

LOL! They were walking home from a park less than a mile from home. One of the first things my kids learned is to recite their address and find their way home from anywhere in the neighborhood.

I still remember the address and phone number from where I lived when I was five years old and that was over 50 years ago. That is how firmly it was drilled into my head

Ditto. I can still picture in my head exactly the route I walked to school in first and second grade.

Less than a mile and you did not get a bus, where I grew up, except if your walking route crossed a highway.

 

[Agit8r]

Don't public schools require kids that age to walk further than this?

Yeah, but in my neighborhood I see parents sitting in their cars while their kids wait for the bus in the morning. These are middle school kids for God's sake. My bus stop in elementary school was a mile from the house and I walked to and from it everyday by myself.

In some towns, buses will not drop off children younger than high school age unless a parent is there waiting.

Ridiculous

I remember latchkey kids who would return home to empty houses and wait for a parent to return from work

I guess kids today are not as responsible as they were thirty years ago

And most of us turned out just fine

 

[SaxxyBlues]

Wow, I walked home from school, was a latch key kid, and walked a few blocks to the small store for a treat.

 

[P F Tinmore]

Don't public schools require kids that age to walk further than this?

When I went to school, there was no bus for less than 2 miles. We had to walk every day.