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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) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 16 2015, @08:03PM
So you are saying when someone reports some lost kids the Police should not check it out. Got it...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Friday January 16 2015, @08:20PM
So are you saying that every kid walking around without an adult is automatically lost? You seem to be saying, "Investigate absolutely everything no matter how slim the chances are that there is trouble." That's what leads to zero tolerance policies.
Humans have brains, and they should use them, rather than resorting to zero tolerance-type policies.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 16 2015, @09:22PM
So are you saying that every kid walking around without an adult is automatically lost?
No. I'm saying it is the police's job to find out if the kid is lost when someone reports a potentially lost kid. They might actually have to ask some questions to do that.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anal Pumpernickel on Friday January 16 2015, @09:46PM
They did more than ask questions, though. Apparently some threats were made. Also, not every report of a missing child from a fearmongering loser should be taken seriously. It absolutely should not be the police's job to investigate absolutely every claim no matter how stupid they sound. And of course, the one who reported this should also grow a brain; maybe *they* could've asked the child some questions if they were so concerned, but really, you shouldn't be concerned about a child simply walking around to begin with.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday January 17 2015, @10:04AM
A simple observation could have provided all the information they needed. Just having a uniformed officer say "hi" and looking for any signs of distress or duress (beyond the natural fear of cops that has been growing in the population).
Crap like this is why parents advise their kids to AVOID cops if they get lost and go ask an adult with kids for help. Honestly, it's good advice since random strangers are far less likely to bring the family to harm these days.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by VitalMoss on Friday January 16 2015, @08:20PM
There's a difference between lost kids and "kids walking home from school."
Don't use word-phrasing that doesn't line up with the story. People who are walking somewhere and people who are lost look completely different, and even then if they were truly worried about the children's well being, they could have just asked.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Jesus_666 on Monday January 19 2015, @07:35PM
As far as the cops are concerned, I'd expect them to behave rationally* and ask the kids if everything's alright and if they need a ride home. If the kids say that they're fine and they know the way home that should be it. They should definitely investigate the call but they should also be able to tell whether any further action beyond talking to the kids is neccessary.
Assuming that an unsupervised ten-year-old is automatically lost and neglected only makes sense if you assume that children never leave their homes except to travel by car, during which they don't look out the windows. Real children make friends and explore their neighborhood and after a while they know it pretty damn well. In fact, they can cover fairly large areas that way, especially if they have access to bikes. Being able to navigate from a known location a mile away to one's home is not exactly a great feat for a ten-year-old.
* unless you live in one of those towns that gave American cops their current reputation.