Reply to How old does a child have to be to wait for a school bus alone?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Suppose this was a 3 year old and a 6 year old walking home alone from that park.  Is there a law on the books saying that is illegal?  Serious question..[/quote]

It's not explicitly illegal in Maryland, if it's walking outside:

"CPS officials have said they are guided in part by a state law that says children younger than 8 must be left with a reliable person who is at least 13. The law addresses children locked or confined in a building, dwelling, motor vehicle or other enclosed space, but does not mention children outdoors on a walk."

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/decision-in-free-range-case-does-not-end-debate-about-parenting-and-safety/2015/03/02/5a919454-c04d-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html

However a general child neglect charge could be brought against the parents if warranted.[/quote]

So these parents absolutely could have been in legal hot water, they are just lucky that the charges were dropped.  Hopefully that was a wake up call for them.  [/quote]

The parents are in legal hot water. The charges were not dropped. The finding was "unsubstantiated child neglect" (whatever that is). Nonetheless, what they did is not illegal, because the law does not say anything about walking.

Would I do what they did? Probably not. Does that mean that they did a bad thing? Hell, no. They know their own kids better than I do, or you do, or CPS does. If they say that their kids are capable of walking home by themselves, I see no reason to doubt them.[/quote]

There will be parents out there who just know that their 3 and 6 year old kids can walk to/from the park all by themselves.  Or that their toddlers are fine playing in the cul de sac all by themselves.

I think that the 6 and 10 year old in question could have walked to/from a neighborhood suburban park on neighborhood sidewalks without raising too many eyebrows.  Even those who noticed would probably have kept their noses out of it.  But these kids were allowed to walk across town to get to/from this park and they crossed busy streets in the process - I think that is where the parents in this situation "jumped the shark".  It is not something that most reasonable parents would have allowed their kids to do and now they can deal with CPS, courts, etc.

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