Readers dzekeeyahn — This is the continuing story of the 6-year-old detained by the cops for walking outside. It is disturbing and distressing. The family needs pro bono legal help. If any of you are lawyers or know someone who can help, please let me know and I will forward the info to the family. […]
Archive | Child Protective Services
CPS, Sesame Street and Six-year-olds Outside
Folks, when I posted the letter sbdsfbaksd from the dad whose 6-year-old was picked up by the police — and DETAINED — for walking solo in her neighborhood, one of you said that stories like this make you worried to let your kids go outside. Which is exactly the opposite reaction I was hoping for. I […]
Cops Detain 6-year-old for Walking Around Neighborhood (And It Gets Worse)
Readers ysyhekiknb — The story below makes me so sad and so angry, and you will see why. If anyone at Child Protective Services or the police department would pick up a single book written before predator panic swept the country, they’d see that 6-year-olds were always part of the neighborhood scene, scampering, playing, or […]
“Please Tell Me I’m Not Crazy” Says Mom Who Left Child Unattended a Few Moments
Hi ifbhdriktf Readers — Can you EVER leave your child unattended for a few minutes in a public place? That’s today’s big question. – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: Last night I took my 5-year-old son and almost 3-year-old daughter to Taco Bell. High class, I know. The restaurant was pretty busy, about five full […]
Stop Criminalizing Parents who Let Their Kids Wait in the Car
Ah, tasirartta readers, you know this is my bugaboo: the idea that the authorities (cops, CPS) know better than PARENTS whether or not a child is safe waiting for a short while in the car. I always want to ask the busybodies who summon the police, “Do you really think it’s safer to drag a […]
Mom Fights Police Record She Got for Letting Her Kids Play at the Park
Hi Readers — Though this mom’s “negligence” story is told in a lovely English lilt, it may nonetheless spike your blood pressure: Since when are the police allowed to write up a mom who trusts her children to be safe and self-sufficient for a short amount of time? Equally enraging is the idea that this […]
CPS or KGB?
Hi Folks! This cartoon comes to us azbazyefae from Russia, which apparently has some similar issues to the United States, when it comes to authorities deciding whether parents are “good” enough. Small world! – L. Knock knock.
Cops Are Called When Mom Refuses to Pick Up Kids, 12 & 15, from Local Library
Hi Folks! Just a quickie: The kids in this Michigan story, 12 and 15, walked to the library on their own. When it was time to go, the temperature had fallen and, according to this asryizabed article, “library staff” would not allow them to walk home. So they called their mom to come get them. […]
A Principal Calls CPS After Mom Lets Daughter, 10, Ride City Bus to School
Readers bihzfafhay — This letter has me shaking with every unpleasant emotion: Rage, frustration and, sorry to admit this, contempt. It is a perfect snapshot of the way excessive fear for kids coupled with authority can turn parenting into a defensive art, where we must FIGHT for our right to raise kids the way we […]
Parents of Kids who Get Too Many Bruises May Be Charged with Neglect
Hi Folks — This eyhtefbrtb story comes to us from Australia, where the federal government is telling child protective workers to consider — and classify — kids who “often” hurt themselves as at a “high risk of neglect.” “Accident-prone children might be the victims of poor parental supervision,” is how AdelaideNow sums the reasoning up. […]