[Catsrus]

They have 10 kids and the wife is pregnant again. There were pictures of the squalor they live in - no water or electricity - and outdoor, fenced in “kitchen,” with no modern conveniences. The kids are allowed to roam at will among garbage and broken glass. It looked like the babies didn’t wear any shoes, and their faces were filthy with mud or grime. They call it “free range parenting.” I think this is a case where intervention is necessary - because it’s really a sad situation. I don’t think the kids go to school - might be home schooled, but, without any modern conveniences, how are they to get a quality education? The mother has all she can do delivering babies.

[Pelham]

That sounds like the way a whole lot of Appalachian families lived when Kennedy was President and we were getting ready to land a man on the Moon.

I guess they were lucky to have lived before the busybody generation came along and seized their kids.

[Slambat]

“how are they to get a quality education?”

Home school.

[Nifster]

Do you ask the same about the Amish?

[Mrs. Don-o]

Their primitivism isn't something I would choose, but from related articles, I noticed that they have a computer with internet access, lots of books and play equipment, and the kids over 7 are literate and have mastered arithmetic skills, which is more than you can say for the kids in Common Core. And they are healthy, happy, and self-reliant, which are also still big pluses in my book.

The Constitutional rights related to personal liberty and the Natural Right of parents and children to keep their family intact (absent criminal abuse or neglect) are even bigger pluses.

I played in mud many times as a child. My mother hosed me off before I came into the house. Playing in mud won't hurt them. Being abducted from their home and separated from their parents, siblings and pets, will. If the Powers That Be can't prove physical or emotional harm, the kids had better be returned to their homestead before the parents sue the County into bankruptcy. If they open a GoFundMe I would contribute to their legal fund.

[Mrs. Don-o]

BTW, a friend, Murv Perry, wrote a Mother's Day article which might interest you: mother and dad raised 10 kids in the Depression with very little income, under primitive conditions and partly in a tent; and too much of a migratory existence for the kids to be regularly schooled:

Scroll down to page 7 of 8

Fascinating --- and mighty encouraging--- to see what the outcomes for the kids were.