Anonymous wrote:Ug, just looked at the mother's twitter feed. She clearly views herself as an activist/martyr wedded to a "philosophy." She should think more about her actual kids and less about her personal projects and rigid identity as a "free range parent."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one will call the cops if kids are playing in a front yard...whether it's your yard or the neighbor down the street...because common sense dictates that a grown up is in the house or within earshot. The same is not true when kids are a mile away from home in a non-residential area (in this case, in front of a parking garage). A reasonable person did not see any adults around, and there weren't any houses nearby...just a busy street.

Have you ever been there? Fenton Street is not a busy street.

I also don't understand the fear of non-residential areas (and parking garages! yikes!)

Not to mention that there was at least one adult around, namely the guy who called 911.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like the law and regulations are unclear and that there's even some contradiction, since MCPS recognizes that children may walk to and from school without an adult. Some posters think what these parents did is illegal. Many others think it is not illegal.

It would help all parents if the authorities would issue clear guidance as to whether children under a certain age may be outside without an adult, walk to and from school or a park without adult supervision, etc.

It's pretty clearly illegal. Many posters think it shouldn't be, not that it isn't. I bet we'll get plenty of clarity very soon. Though there's a lot to be said for agency discretion in these matters.

Is it? There seems to be disagreement. So you think it is illegal for children under the age of 8 to play outside without an adult present?

Yes, if it's completely unsupervised. That doesn't include on the block or on the street where the parents can see them or in the yard where the parents can check through the window every once in a while.

Right. Do you really think that's the definition of supervised that would be okay to CPS? A former CPS worker posted on one of these threads that it's clearly neglect. What you're doing is clearly neglect to CPS, they just haven't been by yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like the law and regulations are unclear and that there's even some contradiction, since MCPS recognizes that children may walk to and from school without an adult. Some posters think what these parents did is illegal. Many others think it is not illegal.

It would help all parents if the authorities would issue clear guidance as to whether children under a certain age may be outside without an adult, walk to and from school or a park without adult supervision, etc.

It's pretty clearly illegal. Many posters think it shouldn't be, not that it isn't. I bet we'll get plenty of clarity very soon. Though there's a lot to be said for agency discretion in these matters.

Is it? There seems to be disagreement. So you think it is illegal for children under the age of 8 to play outside without an adult present?

Yes, if it's completely unsupervised. That doesn't include on the block or on the street where the parents can see them or in the yard where the parents can check through the window every once in a while.

OK, so you're saying it's only legal for kids under 8 to play outside without an adult if parents can see them out the window? Where does the law stipulate this?

It's much more general than that. You asked for my interpretation. That's it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one will call the cops if kids are playing in a front yard...whether it's your yard or the neighbor down the street...because common sense dictates that a grown up is in the house or within earshot. The same is not true when kids are a mile away from home in a non-residential area (in this case, in front of a parking garage). A reasonable person did not see any adults around, and there weren't any houses nearby...just a busy street.

Have you ever been there? Fenton Street is not a busy street.

I also don't understand the fear of non-residential areas (and parking garages! yikes!)

Not to mention that there was at least one adult around, namely the guy who called 911.

Anonymous wrote:I just listened to the 911 dispatch call. Clearly these kids are not equipped to be off on their own. They weren't at the park. They had been wandering around the streets for 20 mins and approached the man who called 911 (approaching a strange man to ask to pet his dog) after he realized no parents were around and they were wandering. He also noticed they were wearing dirty clothes. They wandered through a parking lot, to Georgia Ave, behind random office buildings, etc.

I don't think this call illustrates that the kids are mature enough to be off on their own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG!!! We get that the law is vague. But it's been pointed out that both CPS and the courts have discretion to interpret it rather broadly...and they have. And common sense dictates that it's okay for your kid to play in your yard but not okay to play a mile away.

And everyone's definition of "common sense" is the same?

You need to step away from the question mark key. No one is going to stop thinking about the underlying issues in this case if you, I don't know, left this thread alone for fifteen minutes.

Anonymous wrote:I just listened to the 911 dispatch call. Clearly these kids are not equipped to be off on their own. They weren't at the park. They had been wandering around the streets for 20 mins and approached the man who called 911 (approaching a strange man to ask to pet his dog) after he realized no parents were around and they were wandering. He also noticed they were wearing dirty clothes. They wandered through a parking lot, to Georgia Ave, behind random office buildings, etc.

I don't think this call illustrates that the kids are mature enough to be off on their own.

Anonymous wrote:I just listened to the 911 dispatch call. Clearly these kids are not equipped to be off on their own. They weren't at the park. They had been wandering around the streets for 20 mins and approached the man who called 911 (approaching a strange man to ask to pet his dog) after he realized no parents were around and they were wandering. He also noticed they were wearing dirty clothes. They wandered through a parking lot, to Georgia Ave, behind random office buildings, etc.

I don't think this call illustrates that the kids are mature enough to be off on their own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like the law and regulations are unclear and that there's even some contradiction, since MCPS recognizes that children may walk to and from school without an adult. Some posters think what these parents did is illegal. Many others think it is not illegal.

It would help all parents if the authorities would issue clear guidance as to whether children under a certain age may be outside without an adult, walk to and from school or a park without adult supervision, etc.

It's pretty clearly illegal. Many posters think it shouldn't be, not that it isn't. I bet we'll get plenty of clarity very soon. Though there's a lot to be said for agency discretion in these matters.

Is it? There seems to be disagreement. So you think it is illegal for children under the age of 8 to play outside without an adult present?

Yes, if it's completely unsupervised. That doesn't include on the block or on the street where the parents can see them or in the yard where the parents can check through the window every once in a while.

OK, so you're saying it's only legal for kids under 8 to play outside without an adult if parents can see them out the window? Where does the law stipulate this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I was the poster she was correcting and I said she was right on the historical fact -- but it is an overblown comparison and only someone who's forefathers and mothers were not lynched, denied basic liberties would make this dumb ass comparison.

Fight for an equitable education system, fight for the elimination of childhood hunger and poverty, fight to end police brutality
Pure entitlement, tantrum crap.

We get it, you don't think this is important. So why do you keep posting on this thread?

Anonymous wrote:

No one will call the cops if kids are playing in a front yard...whether it's your yard or the neighbor down the street...because common sense dictates that a grown up is in the house or within earshot. The same is not true when kids are a mile away from home in a non-residential area (in this case, in front of a parking garage). A reasonable person did not see any adults around, and there weren't any houses nearby...just a busy street.