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A mother in Texas allowed her six year old son to play outside. A neighbor saw the boy sitting on a bench, 150 yards away from his house and returned him to his mother, letting the mom know that he should be inside with an adult. The police knocked on mom's door a few minutes later and CPS followed up shortly thereafter. CPS advised the mother to not let the boy play outside alone again, not for safety reasons but rather due to the possibility that someone might call the police again. Texan mother's anger after neighbor calls Child Protection Services because she let son play outside | Daily Mail Online
Is it just me or are these types of stories becoming more common? I think that parents have the right to decide if their child is mature enough to handle playing outside alone. The mother in this case decided that he was. Now, due to a neighbor complaint, she is no longer able to allow him to do something that he surely enjoys and one that she feels is safe. I also wonder what kind of neighbor calls the police for something like this.
So suppose you are walking in a park (this boy was not in his yard or in anyway on his own property) and see a very small child sitting alone with no adult supervision. Would you do nothing?
I am not sure what I would do in that situation, but I am fairly sure it wouldn't be nothing.
There are also a couple of things you are also leaving out. We have one side of this story, the mom's. Maybe things are exactly as she said, but maybe they are not. Two sides and all that.
Finally, you seem to not understand what CPS is for. CPS isn't who is called AFTER conducting your own investigation (most of us are not trained professionals) but rather the people who are called INITIALLY when something seems amiss. Now for you maybe a 6 yr alone in a public place does not seem odd to you. It does to others. When it comes to child safety, we should all err on the side of being overly cautious, the harm that is done to a parent by a CPS interview is nothing compared to a child that is abused and no one does anything for them because they fear being labeled the "busybody".
So suppose you are walking in a park (this boy was not in his yard or in anyway on his own property) and see a very small child sitting alone with no adult supervision. Would you do nothing?
I am not sure what I would do in that situation, but I am fairly sure it wouldn't be nothing.
I might ask, "Are you ok? Does your mom know you are out here?" If I was still concerned I might knock on the door just to be sure. I would not call the police. Not for a six year old boy sitting on a bench that can be seen from his own front porch.
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There are also a couple of things you are also leaving out. We have one side of this story, the mom's. Maybe things are exactly as she said, but maybe they are not. Two sides and all that.
Of course. This is a message board and I posted a news article, obviously we won't have every single detail of the story. If you or anyone else has more details, please feel free to share them.
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Finally, you seem to not understand what CPS is for. CPS isn't who is called AFTER conducting your own investigation (most of us are not trained professionals) but rather the people who are called INITIALLY when something seems amiss. Now for you maybe a 6 yr alone in a public place does not seem odd to you. It does to others. When it comes to child safety, we should all err on the side of being overly cautious, the harm that is done to a parent by a CPS interview is nothing compared to a child that is abused and no one does anything for them because they fear being labeled the "busybody".
I know what CPS is. I know what it is for. I don't think that the neighbor or the police needed to call CPS in to investigate for a boy playing outside in his own neighborhood.
150 yards is a sizeable distance... and we have no details as to terrain, highway locations, etc.
SIX years old is awfully young... and the 8 year old ditched him!
The mother said that she could see the bench from her front porch. The photo shows a bench in a park like setting. Six doesn't seem that young to me to be outside alone. It all depends on a child's level of maturity. Obviously this mother thought the child was mature enough to handle it.
Six doesn't seem that young to me to be outside alone. It all depends on a child's level of maturity. Obviously this mother thought the child was mature enough to handle it.
Six year olds can be left alone.
Six year olds also leave the house without parents knowing, and are found in bad situations.
Again, it depends on factors that are not mentioned in the British article (why not local coverage, I wonder?).
How often do YOU leave your 6 year old alone... 150 yards away?
I might ask, "Are you ok? Does your mom know you are out here?" If I was still concerned I might knock on the door just to be sure. I would not call the police. Not for a six year old boy sitting on a bench that can be seen from his own front porch.
OP, I agree with you. However, it's become a cultural thing in certain neighborhoods that children can never be without their parent's watching them 100% of their waking moments.
I grew up in a big NE urban city where young children take public transportation to school by themselves. Suburban parents would faint over this.
I'm also old enough to have been allowed to leave my house in the morning, play all day without supervision, and finally come in again at dinner time.
OP, I agree with you. However, it's become a cultural thing in certain neighborhoods that children can never be without their parent's watching them 100% o their waking moments.
I grew up in a big NE urban city where young children take public transportation to school by themselves. Suburban parents would faint this.
I'm also old enough to have been allowed to leave my house in the morning, play all day without supervision, and finally come in again at dinner time.
My childhood was similar to yours except I lived in a smaller town rather then a large city. I played outside almost every single day with little to no supervision much further from home then 150 yards and I had many adventures. Maybe that is why I find this story so bizarre. It's eerie to see how rapidly things are changing. What used to be the norm (kids playing outside unsupervised) is now something worthy of a visit from CPS.
OP, I agree with you. However, it's become a cultural thing in certain neighborhoods that children can never be without their parent's watching them 100% o their waking moments.
I grew up in a big NE urban city where young children take public transportation to school by themselves. Suburban parents would faint this.
I'm also old enough to have been allowed to leave my house in the morning, play all day without supervision, and finally come in again at dinner time.
The difference between now and then is that we all hung out in a big gaggle of kids. The older ones looked out for the younger ones. Now it's rare to see kids out, so they would be out there alone.
I personally wouldn't have called CPS, but I would go talk with the parents in a nice way.
Too many believe CPS will wave a magic wand to make everything magically better. They dont work that way.
Was this really abuse or neglect where CPS had to waste their time? No instead they wasted their time and now scared the mom and kid.
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