Free-range kids picked up AGAIN by police

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

Glad you're happy with that level of state interference. I wouldn't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

My HGC kid is dropped off at our home school, which is not a "quick walk" to our house - in fact, it is about a mile from our house. He walks home on his own, a route that includes crossing a major thoroughfare without a crossing guard (but with a crosswalk).

Are you going to send CPS after me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

The area in question is a residential/commercial area. There are many single-family houses and apartment buildings on the same block where the kids were picked up. I live in the area. It is RESIDENTIAL.

MCPS has bus stops in the same area and in other areas like it.

We do not all live in suburbia.

[Anonymous]

Listen people, we are all on notice as to what can happen if you let your kids go off alone. I'm saying I agree with it, but it's definitely a wake up call. If you don't like how this policy is being enforced, then organize and work to change it. But if you continue to send your little kid off alone, then you should realize that someone might call the cops and you might be investigated by CPS. That's a gamble I'm not willing to take. Ymmv.

[Anonymous]

I'm ^not^ saying I agree with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does race factor into this? I see kids that age run around by themselves all the time.

I will go ahead and say it, I think the consensus is if the children were not white (AA, Hispanic, etc) there might have been more of an acceptance that the children were unsupervised and a reluctance to call the police. Why? Maybe people assume the parents are working and there're is no childcare, etc and if the kids aren't hurting themselves it's ok. I live in Arlington and frequent a library that is right across the street from an elementary school. If you go on a school day afternoon afte school there are TONS of unsupervised children in there hanging out, reading, doing homework, talking to each other. Probably are first through fifth graders. Then one by one you see the the parents come and pick them up, sometimes a few hours after school gets out. The librarians don't interact with them unless they have a question. Judging by the uniforms the parents are wearing, these parents work low wage hourly jobs. I assume they can't afford aftercare. The library seems to condone it by allowing it. But it would never occur to me, black, white or whatever to call the police re it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does race factor into this? I see kids that age run around by themselves all the time.

I will go ahead and say it, I think the consensus is if the children were not white (AA, Hispanic, etc) there might have been more of an acceptance that the children were unsupervised and a reluctance to call the police. Why? Maybe people assume the parents are working and there're is no childcare, etc and if the kids aren't hurting themselves it's ok. I live in Arlington and frequent a library that is right across the street from an elementary school. If you go on a school day afternoon afte school there are TONS of unsupervised children in there hanging out, reading, doing homework, talking to each other. Probably are first through fifth graders. Then one by one you see the the parents come and pick them up, sometimes a few hours after school gets out. The librarians don't interact with them unless they have a question. Judging by the uniforms the parents are wearing, these parents work low wage hourly jobs. I assume they can't afford aftercare. The library seems to condone it by allowing it. But it would never occur to me, black, white or whatever to call the police re it.

I agree.

I am also struck by the repeated references to "urban" areas; to "wandering around DTSS," and to "walking next to a parking garage."

The family LIVES in DTSS. Many of us do. It IS our neighborhood, it is where we reside. Of course that's where the children were walking - they live there.

Why is that so hard to understand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

My HGC kid is dropped off at our home school, which is not a "quick walk" to our house - in fact, it is about a mile from our house. He walks home on his own, a route that includes crossing a major thoroughfare without a crossing guard (but with a crosswalk).

Are you going to send CPS after me?

Your 6 yo is in a HGC for kids... where is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

My HGC kid is dropped off at our home school, which is not a "quick walk" to our house - in fact, it is about a mile from our house. He walks home on his own, a route that includes crossing a major thoroughfare without a crossing guard (but with a crosswalk).

Are you going to send CPS after me?

Your 6 yo is in a HGC for kids... where is that?

My 9yo, who is a year younger than the Meitiv boy, walks this route.

According to some PPs' interpretation of the law, that is illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does race factor into this? I see kids that age run around by themselves all the time.

I will go ahead and say it, I think the consensus is if the children were not white (AA, Hispanic, etc) there might have been more of an acceptance that the children were unsupervised and a reluctance to call the police. Why? Maybe people assume the parents are working and there're is no childcare, etc and if the kids aren't hurting themselves it's ok. I live in Arlington and frequent a library that is right across the street from an elementary school. If you go on a school day afternoon afte school there are TONS of unsupervised children in there hanging out, reading, doing homework, talking to each other. Probably are first through fifth graders. Then one by one you see the the parents come and pick them up, sometimes a few hours after school gets out. The librarians don't interact with them unless they have a question. Judging by the uniforms the parents are wearing, these parents work low wage hourly jobs. I assume they can't afford aftercare. The library seems to condone it by allowing it. But it would never occur to me, black, white or whatever to call the police re it.

I agree.

I am also struck by the repeated references to "urban" areas; to "wandering around DTSS," and to "walking next to a parking garage."

The family LIVES in DTSS. Many of us do. It IS our neighborhood, it is where we reside. Of course that's where the children were walking - they live there.

Why is that so hard to understand?

I disagree. I am frequently in DTSS with Hispanic children, and annoying white people are constantly asking them "where are your parents"... um... over there... to which I wave. me... over here, I look white, it get it... they are Hispanic... please don't talk to them in Spanish... it is rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

My HGC kid is dropped off at our home school, which is not a "quick walk" to our house - in fact, it is about a mile from our house. He walks home on his own, a route that includes crossing a major thoroughfare without a crossing guard (but with a crosswalk).

Are you going to send CPS after me?

Your 6 yo is in a HGC for kids... where is that?

My 9yo, who is a year younger than the Meitiv boy, walks this route.

According to some PPs' interpretation of the law, that is illegal.

No the law is younger than 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

My HGC kid is dropped off at our home school, which is not a "quick walk" to our house - in fact, it is about a mile from our house. He walks home on his own, a route that includes crossing a major thoroughfare without a crossing guard (but with a crosswalk).

Are you going to send CPS after me?

If he's in HgC he's 8 or over, right? So not relevant.

[Anonymous]

[quote]How old are the parents in this case? Do they have personal experience of growing up with very little adult supervision? I did grow up that way myself and that is exactly why I wanted to make better choices in parenting my own kids.

Thought I had posted this before, but can't find it. Does anyone know if the parents grew up in more or less supervised family situations themselves? Some people like to recreate their own childhood circumstances, some prefer the opposite. I am wondering how their own experiences have affected their decisions in these incidents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bus stops are within a quick walk of their home and typically in residential areas. There are usually other kids and parents at the stop or nearby, and this happens at two specific times of the day (when foot traffic by other kids and parents is almost guaranteed). Do you think that's different than dumping your kids off at a quasi urban park late on a Sunday afternoon and having them walk by a garage that is a ghost town (on a Sunday)? I do.

Did you know that it's against mcps policy to let your kids play on the school playground unattended while you wait to pick up your kids? Why? Because accidents can happen so it's a safety issue.

My HGC kid is dropped off at our home school, which is not a "quick walk" to our house - in fact, it is about a mile from our house. He walks home on his own, a route that includes crossing a major thoroughfare without a crossing guard (but with a crosswalk).

Are you going to send CPS after me?

If he's in HgC he's 8 or over, right? So not relevant.

It's absolutely relevant if, as some people have asserted, the law says that you may not cross the street by yourself until you're 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

How do the cops/CPS know that? Oh... they do an investigation.

CPS/cops don't want to bothered with the elitist MoCo parents... they are required to deal with elitist MoCo parents. They just want citizens to stop calling them about this family. I wish the kids were a little more savy and would stop drawing attention to themselves.

If they don't want to bother themselves with this family, how come they keep bothering themselves with this family?

Because people keep calling about this family and if they fail to thoroughly investigate they are responsible if something happens. Duh. They deal with neglected and abused children all day long. Even rich white educated people abuse and neglect Children. I know, that blows your little mind.