multi-ethnic new family concerned with safety of family and children in Westminster,MD (Eldersburg: hair salon)

[summer tan]

My husband and I are considering moving to Westminster, MD because we are looking for a smaller,slower pace of life, more family-oriented place to raise our family. We have heard several things about racism. We also noticed on the city data website that despite the small population, Westminster has a higher ratio of registered sex- offenders than the city that we currently live in. We would be moving from a very large city that has a much smaller ratio of sex- offenders, and when we saw this, it frightened us a little. We are expecting our first child in January, and are now looking for houses in the Westminster area, but we are somewhat afraid that this town may not be as safe as we were hoping. Does anyone have any advice as to what areas we should be looking to live in, and if this is a safe area to raise a multi-ethnic family with small children. I would also want to know that I was safe going out alone to the store or mall at night if I needed to.

[md to nc]

There are sex offenders everywhere. There are even those that have never been caught therefore are not registered. But not only that crime itself is everywhere. But I can say that Westminster is not a bad place at all. There is one section near the college in Westminster that can be bad but within the past 5 years they have been trying to get ahold of the situation and clean the area up. But as far as around Westminster, you should feel very confident about going out. About sex offenders, as long as you do not leave you child alone in the store and so forth, you should be fine. I raised my children there for 8 years and had no problem.

[Pam_rvl]

My daughter and SIL are raising their family in Westminster and love it. She was raised in Montgomery County, MD so Wmnstr is quite a change, but she considers it perfect for being an at-home mom. I've asked her to reply to your message and will post her input as soon as it get it.

[AACtyGirl]

Westminster is a wonderful area for children. I lived in Sykesville for quite some time and it was great. Safe neighborhoods, good schools, nice kids.

When your house hunting, try to find a home a little more "off the beaten path." you'll love living up there, its no nice and calm.

[westsideboy]

If diversity and open minded people are a priority, I would NOT recommend going off of the beaten path in Carroll County. Westminster, Sykesville, and Eldersburg all have suburban communities and people. The other parts of the county are more rural, traditional, and insular. Not that your experience there would necessarily be negative, but it would be a more dramatic transition.

[Pam_rvl]

Here's the response from my daughter who is a Westminster Mom and loves it:

Hi. I have lived in Westminster for almost 7 years, and as a mom of small kids let me share with you about this town. It is a wonderful place to raise kids, laid back atmosphere, lots of hometown pride type things, tons of churches with huge numbers of activities that are open to all (pancake dinners, music productions etc.). There are wonderful librarians who get to know every kid by name after less than a doz. visits, grocery stores that will provide "distraction food" (cookies or cheese slice) so you can actually get shopping done with a toddler. There are some good public schools and some that are better (like anywhere) and a good sized and active home school community.

All right to address your concerns- Racism. Yes there are people show show the "pride of the south" off flagpoles but honestly I can only think of about 4 places in the entire county I have seen them. There is a hair salon in the mall that is less than friendly about doing African-American hair but there are many better salons to use so I wouldn't hold that against Westminster. The only issue I have ever actually seen is the lack of diversity in general. There is a joke about the "typical Carroll county boy" being slight build with blond hair. There are more "multi-ethnic" younger kids (say under 5 years old) than older ones and I have never
heard of anyone being picked on due to culture. (this coming from someone who works at a day camp)

Sexual Offenders- Yep we got them. Westminster is the county seat and therefore we have the jail and halfway houses. Personally I keep a *very* tight eye on my kids when we are on main street, at the Westminster library and at Carroll community college because I know that there are at least one halfway houses on main street within easy walk of the Westminster library and there is only man on the sex offender list who works as a maintenance person at the college. Other than that I am not hyper vigilant. That being said I live north of Westminster proper though I
have lived in town near the hospital.

Ok so I think that answers your questions but like with anything you should know where the information is coming from. I am a homeschool mom of 2 kids under 10 years old. I work in a daycare and camp. I am white and Jewish. I have been part of the Moms Club of Westminster (really if you move here you should join, it is great!!) and a couple different homeschool groups.

Mia

[summer tan]

Thank you for your responses. Currently we live in the DC area and find it too fast-paced and liberal. In generaly people are rude here, and no one seems to have time for anyone else. We are definitely wanting to be in a more conservative area, and just don't want to be in an area where our children would be treated badly due to the way that they look. My husband is Chinese American (though he acts and thinks more caucasion than me and I think and act more Chinese than him) and I am caucasion. We really are both conservative and have very traditional family values. I do plan to be a stay at home mom and am considering home-schooling our children at least in the early years. We have three dogs and two cats and are extremely protective of them, so I know that we will be even more so over our children. My husband hasn't decided if he will take the job in Westminster yet. We have already been looking up churches, schools, activities, and houses on-line. If he does, I will definitely try to find the moms club! Again, thanks for all of your responses.

[NYMD67]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

If diversity and open minded people are a priority, I would NOT recommend going off of the beaten path in Carroll County. Westminster, Sykesville, and Eldersburg all have suburban communities and people. The other parts of the county are more rural, traditional, and insular. Not that your experience there would necessarily be negative, but it would be a more dramatic transition.

I would agree with this post. Stay in Westminster,Eldersburg areas.. Do not go to the smaller areas,such as; Taneytown as an example.
Pretty town, has that great small town feel, but they are certainly not a place to raise a diverse family.
Otherwise, Westminster, Carroll county as a whole,is beautiful!

[Stripes17]

I just want to go on record as disagreeing with the previous poster about Taneytown.

We lived there for a couple of years and did not see any signs of intolerance or such. We were involved in schools and sports. I even did HS sports officiating there so I was able to see large cross sections of the school populations interacting.

I won't say the previous poster is making unfounded complaints, but I have to stand up for the wonderful experience my family had living in Taneytown. I only hope that we can return there to retire one day.

[Existentialist]

No, you are not going to get overt racism in Taneytown, but what you will get (especially in raising kids) is a culture of mediocrity that doesn't challenge them.