Mother gets visit from police/CPS for letting her son play outside (day care, 11 years old)
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I live in a large neighborhood in the same city as the woman in the story and all Summer long there are kids running lemonade stands in front of our local park which, by the way, is on the main thoroughfare into our neighborhood. This is a very busy street. There are usually several kids at a time but sometimes you see one or two running their stand. No one blinks an eye they just wave or pull over and "gasp" actually buy the lemonade from the kids.
Now I am pretty sure that I have not seen a child as young as six running a stand by him or her self but I am pretty sure there has been one or two with older siblings or friends. My kids begged me to let them set one up all Summer so I finally relented one Saturday in August. As we were driving there we were holding our breath hoping like crazy the spot was not already taken! Thankfully it wasn't. I would have let my 11 and 9 year old sons stay there by themselves but my special needs 7 year old daughter wanted to participate so I stayed with them while they sold their lemonade and cookies.
I swear if certain posters lived in my neighborhood they would be on the phone all day and night reporting "neglect" to CPS and half the homes in my neighborhood would be getting knocks on their doors! Kids hike and build forts in the greenbelts, swim in the creek, ride their scooters and bikes around the neighborhood, walk to their friends' houses by cutting through the greenbelts and canyons, have balloon fights in their front yards, etc. All without their parents hovering around micro managing them.
Seems to me there are a lot of Chicken Littles out there raising kids these days.
So-o.......we should not be pro active about life but rather reactive? If we see a child that appears lost, we should take no action? For that matter, if we see a motorist disabled in a remote area, it's okay?
We should only report items to the police when the person of concern is "the bad man".
Is that what you are saying?
I wasn't aware that the child on the bench was lost or distressed in any way.
Yes, expert on everything lkb has been very adamant about that fact throughout the thread. It's a sad world we live in, isn't it?
I have repeatedly differentiated between the experts and the people like myself with a minimal level of mandated training. I am NOT an expert, not even close. That doesn't mean the list of state and federal links I gave stating that leaving young children unsupervised is frequently a sign of neglect.
If you want to nit pick, the police were called on August 18th and the case was closed on September 9th. 23 days which is 3 weeks and 2 days. Can we move on from this?
And CPS hadn't called her, nor opened a case, nor interviewed until much later in the week.
The park was 150 yards from the house. The child had been playing with his sister minutes before. According to the blog, he had been outside a total of 15 minutes the entire day and has "rules and parameters for playing outside. The park was could be seen from the house.
Sounds super neglectful.
A sign of neglect does not equal neglect. I have said this multiple times, but there are lots of things that might warrant a second look but luckily turn out to be nothing. This happens in everyday life and we seem to understand that a "sign" of cancer can turn out to be something benign. That doesn't mean you don't check it out just to be sure.
I fully expect mandated reporters to use some common sense and act like a human being rather then just following guidelines from a government handbook. If they see a child alone in a park and are concerned, they can further investigate by asking the child if he or she is ok and if their parents know they are at the park. Human beings do not call the authorities on their neighbors for allowing their kids to play at the park.
Really? Proud? Maybe her "inciting internet riots" was an attempt at humor. Some people use humor when faced with difficult situations and emotions. I know I do.
So someone whose judgement is different than yours isn't a "human being". I think we have said all we need to one the matter.
And that is a far cry from what happened in this situation.
This child was ALONE. No other children, no bike, no playing, just sitting on a bench.
Kids playing or running around in a group, is a completely different from a 6 year old sitting alone. I am sort of shocked you think they are the same thing.
I'm an only child. If the neighbor kids were busy or not home, I would play by myself. I had a very active imagination and I would run around, turn my swing set into a castle, ride my bike. I'm not sure how far I was a loud go alone I think I couldn't go more than 4 houses away but I would stick to my backyard and front yard.
My parents moved and live in a subdivision. There's a playground there I would let my kids go play there. If you snapped a random photo it probably looks like a public park (gazebo, basketball courts, swings etc)
Sorry to interject in the petty squabbling, but has anyone read any news reports that are not from Ms. Roy? I have only seen stories interviewing her and giving her version of events.
Sorry to interject in the petty squabbling, but has anyone read any news reports that are not from Ms. Roy? I have only seen stories interviewing her and giving her version of events.
Do you mean a news article from the neighbor? I am sure she has declined all interviews so there would be no other side to report their version of events.
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