Free-range kids picked up AGAIN by police

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I believe it is illegal to transport a child younger than 8 without her being properly restrained in a car seat.

Exception for taxis, buses, and I assume police cars also.

It does, however, place the child in substantial risk of harm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, in the Ramona books, Ramona and Beezus went all over town by themselves when Ramona was in kindergarten! Art class, the library...

True. How old was Beezus?

Ramona and Beezus went all over town by themselves before Ramona was in kindergarten. In Beezus and Ramona, Beezus is 9 and Ramona is 4.

And in case anybody points out the obvious, namely that this is fiction -- read Beverly Cleary's autobiography, A Girl from Yamhill. A lot of the Beezus and Ramona stories are based on her experiences.

Uh oh! Time to stole the book burning fires again. Kids might get ideas from these dangerous books!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Finish reading the paragraph you are quoting from, pp. Those specific parents who were already put through the CPS ringer were stupid to put their kids in that situation again...especially after they commented his the kids were traumatized the first time around. So those kids most certainly did not benefit from being traumatized again. Duh.

I agree that the kids did not benefit from being traumatized again. Who traumatized them? CPS and the police, both times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

People are wondering where the parents were looking for the kids and why they didn't come across them sitting in the police car. Was the parking garage not on the route home? How far is it to the park where the kids were left playing and how much ground did they have to cover when they were looking after they realized the kids were late? Were the neighbors helping them look? In my neighborhood, the kids do run around playing and going from house to house. If we couldn't find a kid or two, lots of people would be out looking, and I would think they would notice a police car with the kids sitting in it.

What are you saying? The parents say that they were looking for the kids; but the parents didn't find the kids; therefore the parents are lying and actually didn't look for the kids?

No, not at all. I am not familiar with the area so I am just asking about what kind of an area needed to be covered. I can imagine how upset they must have been when the kids didn't show up on time, so I'm sympathetic with the situation of looking for kids when you just don't know where they are. I was asking for help in picturing how the big area involved is and whether the kids took the same route frequently or whether the parking garage was off the normal route so they didn't think to look in that area.

[Anonymous]

I teach in a poor area where plenty of Hispanic and black 10 year olds walk their much younger siblings to school, to the store, to relative's house several blocks away in crime ridden neighborhoods. I never call CPS when one of my fourth graders tell me they watch their younger siblings alone at home after school. I don't think CPS would even take the call if I called to say two kids were walking alone in the neighborhood. I would literally have to call CPS every day on my way home after work.

[Anonymous]

In the old days, didn't people send their elementary aged kid - alone - to the store to buy milk? Heck, in my family, they sent the kids to buy cigarettes! Probably booze too...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Finish reading the paragraph you are quoting from, pp. Those specific parents who were already put through the CPS ringer were stupid to put their kids in that situation again...especially after they commented his the kids were traumatized the first time around. So those kids most certainly did not benefit from being traumatized again. Duh.

I agree that the kids did not benefit from being traumatized again. Who traumatized them? CPS and the police, both times.

Who put them in the situation to be picked up by the cops? The parents who had been told explicitly by CPS not to let them go to the park alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Finish reading the paragraph you are quoting from, pp. Those specific parents who were already put through the CPS ringer were stupid to put their kids in that situation again...especially after they commented his the kids were traumatized the first time around. So those kids most certainly did not benefit from being traumatized again. Duh.

I agree that the kids did not benefit from being traumatized again. Who traumatized them? CPS and the police, both times.

Who put them in the situation to be picked up by the cops? The parents who had been told explicitly by CPS not to let them go to the park alone.

Actually, what did CPS explicitly say? Do you know?

In any case, that's like "Don't make me hit you again," and it's not how I assign moral responsibility. The kids would have been fine if the police and CPS hadn't picked them up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the old days, didn't people send their elementary aged kid - alone - to the store to buy milk? Heck, in my family, they sent the kids to buy cigarettes! Probably booze too...

Hence the reason child mortality is so low now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not much foot traffic on that spate by the garage on a weekend. No. That's the problem.

That's one block. How about the rest of the area?

That's where they were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Finish reading the paragraph you are quoting from, pp. Those specific parents who were already put through the CPS ringer were stupid to put their kids in that situation again...especially after they commented his the kids were traumatized the first time around. So those kids most certainly did not benefit from being traumatized again. Duh.

I agree that the kids did not benefit from being traumatized again. Who traumatized them? CPS and the police, both times.

Who put them in the situation to be picked up by the cops? The parents who had been told explicitly by CPS not to let them go to the park alone.

Actually, what did CPS explicitly say? Do you know?

In any case, that's like "Don't make me hit you again," and it's not how I assign moral responsibility. The kids would have been fine if the police and CPS hadn't picked them up.

I was speeding down the road and everything would have been fine if the police didn't pull me over. Really, the only trauma experience was by me having to stop the car and wait for the ticket ... Stupid police.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Finish reading the paragraph you are quoting from, pp. Those specific parents who were already put through the CPS ringer were stupid to put their kids in that situation again...especially after they commented his the kids were traumatized the first time around. So those kids most certainly did not benefit from being traumatized again. Duh.

I agree that the kids did not benefit from being traumatized again. Who traumatized them? CPS and the police, both times.

Who put them in the situation to be picked up by the cops? The parents who had been told explicitly by CPS not to let them go to the park alone.

Actually, what did CPS explicitly say? Do you know?

In any case, that's like "Don't make me hit you again," and it's not how I assign moral responsibility. The kids would have been fine if the police and CPS hadn't picked them up.

Well, CPS initially investigated these parents because they let their kids go to a park in DTSS alone...and they weren't found innocent...so in think it's safe to assume that letting their kids to the park alone again wouldn't be cool with CPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Police report shows kids we're stopped at the parking garage. Not walking past it. Unless they move in super slo mo. There were at that spot for at least five minutes before the cop got there. And then sitting I. The car there for over an hour past when the parents say they were due home. Why didn't the parents look for them? There's enough fishy there that it warrants investigation. I hope it turns up nothing and the family lives happily ever after. But I don't blame CPs at all.

No, that's not what the police report says. In any case, at the parking garage is not in the parking garage, standing in front of a parking garage is not looking lost, and elementary-school-aged children are not very young children.

Also, the parents did look for them. And even if the parents hadn't looked for them (which they did do), it makes no sense to say that the police were justified in stopping the kids because an hour later the parents didn't look for them. The parents wouldn't have had to look for them (although they did look for them) if the police hadn't stopped the kids.

No, I don't understand how the parents didn't find them. Did the walk right by the police car and not see them? They were sitting in the police car at a spot on the route home for over an hour after they were supposed to be home. Makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What makes you think they have "plenty of money"? Lawyers are expensive and their fees add up quickly.

Are you serious? This is a professional couple. They certainly have the money in home equity or savings or retirement to pay for experienced family lawyers in MD. This is not the kind of thing you cheap out on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Finish reading the paragraph you are quoting from, pp. Those specific parents who were already put through the CPS ringer were stupid to put their kids in that situation again...especially after they commented his the kids were traumatized the first time around. So those kids most certainly did not benefit from being traumatized again. Duh.

I agree that the kids did not benefit from being traumatized again. Who traumatized them? CPS and the police, both times.

Who put them in the situation to be picked up by the cops? The parents who had been told explicitly by CPS not to let them go to the park alone.

Actually, what did CPS explicitly say? Do you know?

In any case, that's like "Don't make me hit you again," and it's not how I assign moral responsibility. The kids would have been fine if the police and CPS hadn't picked them up.

I was speeding down the road and everything would have been fine if the police didn't pull me over. Really, the only trauma experience was by me having to stop the car and wait for the ticket ... Stupid police.

Exactly.