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As a child my parents did the same thing. They didn't hover over us but taught us how to be independent as it should be
Good. Did you live in Maryland? Did law enforcement officials in your state harass your parents? If not, then consider yourself lucky. However, this is a problem for officials in MARYLAND. Three times.
You don't get to decide "how it should be" for other parents. What works for YOU might not work for someone else.
These people are forcing the hand off law enforcement officials by not complying after the first time their roaming children were found. It must be uncommon in their particular community, otherwise they would not have had dealings with the police and CPS THREE times already.
If you live in a community that doesn't revere your values, YOU STILL HAVE TO OBEY THE LAW.
I want to slap these people. This is actually a rearing belief. "Free range" like chickens. They sound like lazy parents to me. Why have them if you don't want to take care of them?
Two Maryland children are with their parents again after being held by Child Protective Services (CPS) for hours. This is the third time Danielle and Alexander Meitiv have come under fire for letting their children walk around unsupervised, reports CBS News correspondent Chip Reid.
"I can't believe we're going through this again," Danielle said.
Maryland CPS puts "free-range" parents on notice
Police picked up 6-year-old Dvora and her 10-year-old brother Rafi from a park near their Silver Spring home around 5 p.m. Sunday. Someone called 911 after seeing them alone.
"The policeman said, 'I'm going to bring you home,' and instead he brought us here," Rafi said.
Montgomery County police brought them to protective services where they were held for hours.
"We asked them, 'Why did they not bring them home?' And they said, 'We decided that it was the safety of the children was more important,'" Alexander said.
Is "free range parenting" really child neglect?
In February, a CPS investigation found the Meitivs responsible for "unsubstantiated child neglect." They said they're practicing free-range parenting, a parenting style in which independence and freedom is encouraged. They claim it builds independence.
"In essence it's like a false imprisonment, what happened to these kids, even though CPS probably had the best of intentions," CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said Monday on "CBS This Morning." "Remember this, it's hours where these parents don't know where their kids are and where the kids don't know where their parents are."
State law in Maryland says, "A child under the age of 8 years old" cannot be left alone in a "building, enclosure, or motor vehicle" ... and they must be with "a reliable person who is at least 13."
Seems like this is a long thread. I haven't read it yet so I'll just jump in blind.
I guess it really depends on where you live with regards to how the situation is perceived. In my area there isn't much crime. Kids that age walk around our downtown with ease with their siblings. Nobody takes a school bus. They walk, ride their bikes or their parents drop them of at school. Most walk home from school. Matter of fact our elementary and middle school is big on pushing kids to tell their parents to let them ride their bikes to cut-down on traffic and to encourage exercise. The elementary school has bike to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays as a campaign for 1st-5th grade. That's the same ages of the kids in this story. 6-10. Do you really think parents have the time to bike to school in the morning?
While I wouldn't let my five year old do it alone mine did start walking home at ten with friends. I secretly followed the first few times to make sure they used the crosswalks and that they paid attention to what they were doing.
Ten years old is 5th grade. They most certainly can be allowed to play at a park or with their friends in my area without someone looking directly at them 24/7. It wouldn't turn a head. Same goes with them walking with their younger siblings to the store or school.
I'm a lot more cautious than these "free range parents" but they do have point that some of the fears we have sometimes go overboard and very "concerned" people overact sometimes butting in where they shouldn't.
Good. Did you live in Maryland? Did law enforcement officials in your state harass your parents? If not, then consider yourself lucky. However, this is a problem for officials in MARYLAND. Three times.
You don't get to decide "how it should be" for other parents. What works for YOU might not work for someone else.
These people are forcing the hand off law enforcement officials by not complying after the first time their roaming children were found. It must be uncommon in their particular community, otherwise they would not have had dealings with the police and CPS THREE times already.
If you live in a community that doesn't revere your values, YOU STILL HAVE TO OBEY THE LAW.
I live in maryland. Sorry but government does not get to decide how to raise someone's kids.
“fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children,” which it called “perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court.” The plurality opinion by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (joined by three other members of the Court) emphasized that state officials must apply a strong presumption that parents’ decisions about the upbringing of their children are correct, and cannot abridge parental control over child-raising based on “mere disagreement” with the parents’ choices.
And that's unfortunate for the child who has to do so. A child at having to do all those chores at 6 years old is not getting the benefit of his/her childhood.
Opinion noted. Some call it earning your keep and learning responsibility at an early age. Treat kids like babies and they'll act like babies. It's funny how we have no problem teaching a kid algebra at 7 or 8 years old, but a 10 year old walking to the park...oh hell no!!
Quote:
A ten year old should not be responsible for a six year old outside of the home or in a home. The parents should be.
Should....should not....it's really just an opinion. Are some 10 year olds mentally mature enough to take a sibling to the park....probably so.
Read the Maryland laws. The police are familiar with this family x 3. Now, you have to ask "them" or understand the laws in Maryland. I am not a law official in Maryland. I'm not the Mayor, Council person or any other elected official. How would I know why the law is what it is?
Seems to me if you've been "bothered" with law enforcement and CPS two times you'd get a clue. They didn't. They went for round three. That, in and of itself says a lot about these parents.
Don't come asking me anything stupid like I know why the laws in Maryland frown up it. Fact: Regardless of what they want to do, they still have to follow the law!
Stupid is not even following the question. I didn't ask why the laws in Maryland frown upon it. I asked what law did they break. The answer is none. Why weren't the parents arrested, or their children placed in foster homes if playing outside without parents is against the law? It's not. Three times, and they still have their kids and have never seen the inside of a jail cell should be a huge clue. The police can "frown" upon their choices all they want, but they can't do anything but harass them, which is exactly what they are doing.
From the article YOU posted:
State law in Maryland says, "A child under the age of 8 years old" cannot be left alone in a "building, enclosure, or motor vehicle" ... and they must be with "a reliable person who is at least 13."
"There is nothing on the books about a child being accompanied by an adult, or someone 13 or older, if they're outside," Kleiman said.
The only "stupid" thing is people who don't bother to know their own rights and simply do as told like some mindless sheep. These parents are within their legal right to let their children outside unattended and refused to comply because they shouldn't have to. Apparently, they have decided to comply now out of fear their children will be taken away. No one should have to raise their children in fear. Whether you or I agree is irrelevant. No one has to agree with their parenting choice. I don't agree with children being raised in the Westboro Church either. Doesn't mean I get to call the police on them, or the police gets to harass them at every turn.
Good. Did you live in Maryland? Did law enforcement officials in your state harass your parents? If not, then consider yourself lucky. However, this is a problem for officials in MARYLAND. Three times.
You don't get to decide "how it should be" for other parents. What works for YOU might not work for someone else.
These people are forcing the hand off law enforcement officials by not complying after the first time their roaming children were found. It must be uncommon in their particular community, otherwise they would not have had dealings with the police and CPS THREE times already.
If you live in a community that doesn't revere your values, YOU STILL HAVE TO OBEY THE LAW.
One time, three times, seventeen times - it doesn't matter. If no laws are being violated there is no reason for this to be occurring except that some busybody who professes to know better than the parents complained to a cop. The cop, apparently in an abundance of caution ( or more probably the old CYA game), took the kids into custody and later turned them over to CPS, lying to them the entire time about taking them home. It appears that law enforcement, in this case, allowed their hand to be forced by a self-righteous zealot for helicopter parenting, not by the actions of the parents of the children involved.
There is no indication from what I've read here, or been directed to by any links or references, that there was any violation of Maryland law by the parents, yet certain people feel those parents don't have the right to make the decision they made and would equate letting the kids go to the park to being locked in a hot car and feel they should be slapped. Ain't that America?
Good. Did you live in Maryland? Did law enforcement officials in your state harass your parents? If not, then consider yourself lucky. However, this is a problem for officials in MARYLAND. Three times.
You don't get to decide "how it should be" for other parents. What works for YOU might not work for someone else.
These people are forcing the hand off law enforcement officials by not complying after the first time their roaming children were found. It must be uncommon in their particular community, otherwise they would not have had dealings with the police and CPS THREE times already.
If you live in a community that doesn't revere your values, YOU STILL HAVE TO OBEY THE LAW.
Funny how one sided you are with that statement. Exactly what posters have said throughout this whole thread, and exactly what you have argued consistently against.
I guess my wife's and mine parents were neglectful. We free-ranged everywhere when we were young, even in grade school. Just got on our bikes and rode off up-street. My childhood friend and I used to walk miles sometimes to the small regional airport to see airplanes take off and land. We'd all walk to school in the morning and home at night without any parental escorts, again in elementary school. Stay out all day with our neighborhood friends. Yup, very neglectful parents back then....
Location: Subconscious Syncope, USA (Northeastern US)
2,365 posts, read 2,148,500 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ErnieG
And that's unfortunate for the child who has to do so. A child at having to do all those chores at 6 years old is not getting the benefit of his/her childhood.
I CAN'T SPEAK TO WHAT JOBS this family have, but a six year old and a ten year old in a park together in semi walkable community has come to the attention of the police and CPS THREE times. Maybe they ought to move somewhere with less stringent laws?
A ten year old should not be responsible for a six year old outside of the home or in a home. The parents should be.
Well, I dont agree. Why shouldnt siblings show some responsibility for each other? Its not a chore, its simply loving and caring for your own family. Honestly, anyone that has siblings knows the younger always want to tag along with the older ones.
I do however agree a change in state to live in is in order for this family, if they can afford to do so.
I personally have a disability that is on record at my job. Thanks to Lean initiatives, although I dont really make a lot of money, it seems I have been singled out in my department to be encouraged by the facility to quit my job. Slander and harassment follow me throughout the facility.
There is a cure for my disability now, and I am simply waiting for a program to accept me so I can start a very expensive treatment that is not covered by my insurance. I cannot afford to leave my job, lol. I am the main wage earner, and my job provides the health insurance we need. Even if I found a replacement job, they would not be willing to deal with a new employee undergoing such treatment, and may not provide the insurance I need. Best part of my situation is - I work at a hospital that projects itself as caring about peoples health, and caring about their employees. My disability causes major fatigue, and my employer wants to help that along in any way they can.
So, I just have to deal with it all at this point, and wait for them to finally fire me - which they obviously dont want to do, or they would have done so a couple of years ago when all this stuff started The corporation knows what is going on, but since the harassment is escalating - and even includes participation by my Union reps, who are just employees themselves - one can only assume the corporation approves of these tactics.
The point of all that being, once you are on the wrong radar, leaving appears to be the only way out of it. On the other hand, just like me in my situation, this family might just be totally 'effed'! Dont want to stay, but cant go either. Maybe just like me, they dont have legal recourse until that municipality and its employees causes them damages.
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