Posted on 12/01/2015 12:03:34 AM PST by detective
That's what happened to Sonya Hendren when she let her 4-year-old son, Tomahawk, play on their gated Sacramento, California, apartment complex playground by himself. She felt her son could handle playing unsupervised 120 feet from her apartment's front door, but her neighbor disagreed. According to local news outlet CBS8, the neighbor, Sonja Horrell, reported Hendren to Child Protective Services, and Hendren was arrested for felony child neglect and endangerment.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
"Political correctness" has flushed common sense away.
That used to be a very common practice. I’m not sure at 4 years old, but not much older. When I was 4, we lived outside. There were no adults out, just other neighbor kids.
Come to think of it, my mother used to send me or one of my siblings to the store for 5 candy bars when we were just that age. It was not too far, but it was down the street and around the corner in a big city neighborhood.
If you live in a village that believes “it takes a village”... move.
At age 4, I was walking to kindergarten which was 6-7 blocks away. I turned 5 years old two months after the school year started.
When the streetlights came on, it was time to go home.
I used to walk at least 5 - 7 miles or more for my guitar lesson because my parents were busy with their jobs. The horror! Believe me, carrying that guitar all the way there was no fun though, lol.
Mine too.
Tomahawk?
The neighbor must have thought 120 feet wasn't enough, otherwise why get the mom arrested and sent a lot further away than 120 feet.
I’d file a lawsuit against the police, CPS and the DA’s office.
They’re not to decide how parents can raise their kids.
This was willful abuse of color of authority.
Letting a kid play on the playground alone is hardly child abuse.
Official idiots need their heads checked for making a felony out of a normal child-rearing pastime.
Change the charge to “Felony Child Naming.”
The neighbor and CPS need to be sued personally for abuse and malicious prosecution. Yup Under color of authority for CPS. As for the neighbor, my remaining life would be dedicated to making their entire life unlivable. I would be everywhere they were telling everyone what they had done, including their workplace.
Until we make these people suffer, they will make us suffer.
Once when I was six, my mom left me in charge of my 2 year old brother out in the yard. A neighbor mom found him toddling down the street and immediately called the authorities ... No Wait! She didn’t! ... She brought him up to the house and said here’s your kid. A good laugh was had by all, except for me, as I have no memory of this incident outside of family lore.
It scares me to think of a child that young walking so far alone. They are innocent, defenseless and not as aware of their surroundings at that age. Coupled with so many crazies out there I can understand why parents would be vigilant. Granted yes things were different back when but I remember not being able to leave the block when I was 5. At six I could go around the block to a friends house if I told my mom first.
That’s ironic the neighbors have the same first name and last initial.
I agree, the mother should not be charged with anything. She didn’t harm her child nor break any law. Ridiculous. However, one can argue it IS taking a risk to let young children just out of toddler years to play out of eyesight unsupervised. It’s just the world we live in today. And what if the child got injured? Maybe she was keeping an eye on him from a window.
Good Lord, I ran around half the town unsupervised as a kid, plus walking to and from school.
Iremember walking almost 10 miles to school (and back home), up hill both ways in snow up to about mid thigh.
Sometimes the snow was so deep we would be forced to tunnel for miles. If it was too bad we would actually set up underground colonies and camp there until the snow melted some, usually about 3 days or so. We survived on squirrels and gophers we would catch.
Really, a 4 yr old child should NOT be left unsupervised for any length of time. Tragedy takes but a split second to occur.
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