The WaPo reports that Danielle and Alexander Meitiv in Montgomery County Maryland say they are being investigated for neglect after letting their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter make a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. “We wouldn’t have let them do it if we didn’t think they were ready for it,” says Danielle. The Meitivs say they believe in “free-range” parenting, a movement that has been a counterpoint to the hyper-vigilance of “helicopter” parenting, with the idea that children learn self-reliance by being allowed to progressively test limits, make choices and venture out in the world. “The world is actually even safer than when I was a child, and I just want to give them the same freedom and independence that I had — basically an old-fashioned childhood,” says Danielle. “I think it’s absolutely critical for their development — to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.”
On December. 20, Alexander agreed to let the children walk from Woodside Park to their home, a mile south, in an area the family says the children know well. Police picked up the children near the Discovery building, the family said, after someone reported seeing them. Alexander said he had a tense time with police when officers returned his children, asked for his identification and told him about the dangers of the world. The more lasting issue has been with Montgomery County Child Protective Services which showed up a couple of hours later. Although Child Protective Services could not address this specific case they did point to Maryland law, which defines child neglect as failure to provide proper care and supervision of a child. “I think what CPS considered neglect, we felt was an essential part of growing up and maturing,” says Alexander. “We feel we’re being bullied into a point of view about child-rearing that we strongly disagree with.”
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @07:00PM
> I work at at public library ... Recent memo went around saying we should report any unaccompanied child under twelve to CPS as an agency under the 'mandatory reporting' laws.
Assuming the memo actually said that, then whoever wrote the memo is the idiot. Library employees do not qualify as mandated reporters. They are people like doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, cops, and day care workers. Libraries are none of those things, not even day care workers. As an example, here is the list of mandated reporters [ny.gov] for the state of New York.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @07:12PM
Perhaps they can also report who is reading what books to the authorities. Why not they are already reporting other people to the authorities...
That is the slippery slop they are living in.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday January 17 2015, @04:04AM
We got added to the list here. Yes it is insane, that was part of my point. If a checkout clerk in a library is a mandatory reporter, who is next? How long until the cashier at the Quik-E-Mart is on the list?