CPS Threatens Dad: Let Your Kids Play Outside and We'll Take Them Away

Reason.com ^ | December 23, 2014 | Lenore Skenazy

[Altariel]

I received an update from the Maryland mom of two who was contacted by Montgomery Country Child Welfare Service in November after she let her kids, ages 6 and 10, play at the park two blocks from home by themselves. She was cited for allowing a child under age 8 "to be locked or confined in a dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle while the person charged is absent."

The CPS worker decided "confined in a dwelling" was the same thing as "outside in a park."

The higher ups at child services agreed that this was insane, and the case was closed—until this week. As the mom wrote in an email to me:

It seemed that we had called their bluff and they were going to leave us alone. Not for long. This past Saturday, while I was out of town, my husband dropped my kids off at a park about 1 mile from our house and said they could walk home together. They got 1/2 way when someone called the police.

"Shots Will Be Fired"

The kids were picked up in a patrol car and brought home. The policewoman asked to see my husband's ID. When he refused, she said she was going to call for back-up. He said he would get his ID and went to go upstairs. She said - in front of the kids - that if he came down with anything else, "shots would be fired."

At this point 10 yr old. called me crying, saying that the police were there and that Daddy was going to be arrested. My husband stepped outside to continue the conversation away from the kids. When he disagreed with one of the officers about the dangers that walking alone posed to the kids, she actually asked him: "Don't you watch TV?" (The answer was no). They took notes and left.

"Sign This or We Take Your Kids"

Two hours later someone from Child Welfare showed up with a temporary plan, which they wanted my husband to sign, stating that he would not leave the children unsupervised until Monday when someone from their office could contact him.

He refused.

She called the police, saying that if he didn't sign they would take the kids away right then.

He signed.

This is outrageous. We refuse to deprive our children of critical opportunities to develop responsibility and independence, and have no intention of fundamentally changing our parenting to accommodate this kind of paranoia and bullying, but it's not going to be easy. We are now waiting for the call from Child Welfare and looking for someone who can give us legal advice on these issues in Maryland.

I have to admit when I read stories on your site and elsewhere about CPS threatening to take kids away, I never thought it could happen to us. I'll keep you posted.

Best, Danielle Meitiv

I'll keep you posted, too, readers. Since when are children not supposed to play outside on their own? And what gives the state the right to take them from their parents when they do?

[Star Traveler]

The more you know, the more dangerous it is. On the other hand, “ignorance is bliss” ... :-) ...

[Glad2bnuts]

Moms waiting at the Bus stop.

Nearly every parent at sports PRACTICE.

We keep our children on our Health care, pay for them to go to college, allow them to not get a job until graduation.

Send them on Spring break from HS through College years. Let them sleep in on weekends, sue if a teacher raises his voice at them.

Fire Teachers for punishing an unruly child, give them raises for getting the same students to protest at an NEA rally.

Build schools with carpet, air conditioning, multimedia centers and computers, but don’t teach them how to type.

We plant schools with fields that look like the perfect park with no one playing on them. They are too busy texting their friend leaning on the same fence 10 feet away.

Commonly our teens weigh 180 for the females, 225 for the boys.

All of the above is cause by NOT MAKING them walk to school. NOT making them take PE throughout the school years, and feeding them soda and chips.

The epidemic of pampered kids will lead to early deaths of more children than a predator or gang-banger ever will. I remember how easy it is to put on the pounds when reaching 40. I went from a solid 165 to 205. These kids will gain at least 25% in weight as they age. The average lard-behind will be 260+.

If people don’t feel safe letting your children play and exercise outdoors unsupervised, blame yourselves. DEMAND that sexual predators be jailed for life, better yet execution. Return the concept of swift justice for murderers, and return our streets to the law abiding citizens instead of cowering. We get the Justice we deserve.

[capt. norm]

"Those “good ole days” don’t exist any longer ... "

I started Kindergarten in 1947 in a small Iowa town (Laurens...no need for secrecy). We lived in a neighborhood where all the "Moms" knew each other, had coffees together and kept up with the radio soap operas. One or more members of this group of moms always knew where us kids were and what we were up to at any given time and kept the others up-to-date.

If any of us did something bad, it instantly became a bulletin across the whole "mom network" and you were in trouble when you got back home regardless of who saw it.

A stranger in the neighborhood would set off a chain of calls until someone identified them (he's my brother-in-law, etc.) or he remained under "neighborhood recon" until he left.

* (door-to-door salesmen did not fare well in the old neighborhood)

[yldstrk]

Good point, my girlfriend and I were playing hopscotch in front of my house when some asshole pulled up to ask directions and was stroking his wienie, I was about 10, I thought it was a huge hot dog but backed away nonetheless and told my mom who called the police.

[TBP]

“Vee own your kitz!”

[catroina54]

definitely signing anything from them is a mistake.
there is hope he can get his statement on the record of signing under threat etc.
anyway,this website remains an immense resource, and some resources are also applicable when dealing with court initiated guardianship and getting the truth on record the same when dealing with a pack of lying hyenas.

http://www.familyrightsassociation.com/

CPS is to be shut down and replaced with an authentic legal system,not these kangaroo hearings where YOU ARE GUILTY until you prove otherwise and meanwhile your kids are in the foster care system.

[ladyjane]

Do you think their phobias are because they weren’t unattended when they were away from home?

I think there is some data to show that the tendencies toward anxiety and phobias are genetic. There may be a predisposition toward that. Of course, we’ll never know.

[cva66snipe]

Those “good ole days” don’t exist any longer ... because of the extreme danger to kids in the day we live in. There are way too many out there now just looking to grab kids at the first chance they have

I wish I could post and say how wrong you are {for the sake of our kids and this nation} but I can only agree. I was born in the late 1950's and when I was about seven years old in 1964 I walked to school about 4 blocks away or rode my bike. We played outdoors after school and in the summer being gone several hours wasn't unusual. At 13 I was left on the lake in the summer to camp and fish. My dad came in ever day or two with some ice and food to check on me. I has a rifle, boat, motor, and the dog. Life was good :>} It was the same way he had grown up.

By the time I was 16 things were changing. Downtown where I would go to watch a movie was becoming unsafe especially at night. Camping out was starting to get dangerous enough to have a firearm. It wasn't that I had suddenly become more aware of danger but rather our nation and communities changed. I grew up much like my dad did and dad grew up on the wrong side of town so to speak. But even where dad grew up in the 1930's he and his siblings were safe.

There are predators out there today who have no fear of any punishment from our judicial system nor retribution from a group of men taking matters into their own hands to maintain community standards.

As kids we knew who we could talk too and who not to talk too. The parents knew the kids or they found out fast {by asking their kids} who someone was.

I would be cautious even in rural areas today. Society standards of allowed behavior and even moral standards have been lowered. I pains me to say this is not the nation I nor my parents grew up in. Innocence in that respect has been lost and it will take a major fight to restore it. A parents duty is to protect their kids from harm. IF someone had grabbed and taken their kids on one of their walks home they would be screaming bloody murder that the cops were not doing their job protecting them. GOD gave us minds to use and common sense. Common sense says in these times the kids were too young for that. But common sense is not law.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Actually your children, poor little mites are in every bit as much danger of being kidnapped as the people in the story possibly more.

[Star Traveler]

That’s why we watch closely and are very close.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Providing your children are over the age of 4 and you are still married to the other parent your child has twice as much chance of being hit by lightning as they do of being kidnapped.

The idea that there are scores of people out there lurking to grab any unattended child they see is the stuff of nightmares. Happily it is also the stuff of very remote possibility.

[Star Traveler]

We don’t let them play outside in thunderstorms here ... either ... :-) ...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You don't let them play barefoot in the rain and mud?

Dang man you are going to make me cry. Childhood is suppose to be fun.

[Star Traveler]

They warn you about lightning in Oklahoma ... and they’ve got some doozies! You should see the weather news here ... they cut into any show on TV at any time, when they’ve got severe thunderstorms coming ... and they can come out of nowhere, too.

There’s a reason they’ve got the severe weather center located in Oklahoma ... down by Norman, I think.

[Glad2bnuts]

Mom was always home, that was a good thing. We lived about 8 houses from the local 7-11, my kids weren’t allowed to walk there when they were teenagers. They weren’t allowed on the bus unless mom drove them to the stop. We lived within half a mile with no main roads, and crossing guards at every intersection. Moms anxiety and phobias transferred from nature or nurture, we’ll never know, but an educated guess says fear can be instilled.

[huldah1776]

I was paranoid but there is probably a greater chance of being in a car accident. I wish I had moved to a small town where everyone knew everyone. My niece was in 1st or 2nd grade when walking home from school a guy down the street exposed himself from his living room window. Location, location, location.

[huldah1776]

Ever since the missing kids were put on milk cartons, parents who didn’t abort became more wary. I think the child porn industry is one stat you should take into account that is offset by vigilant parents.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Since you are taking full responsibility for your kids’ welfare or lack thereof, then you need to hire a competent attorney that knows the law to represent you. If you don't want to pay the money, then follow your kids to the park. I homeschool and like to watch them play but know they have to explore and learn so I give them some space but since I wont see them as teens much or after, I enjoy them now and it keeps the pervs away.....I am too cheap to pay for the shrink after my kid is molested and possibly maybe becomes a molester afterward. I teach them to use tools and we go hiking....I stay back. There are things they can learn later about living free range, after they know when to apply a tourniquet or know what a bad stranger really looks like or will do to you sexually....not just the stupid euphemisms they can and ought digest st 6 and 10. HSLDA is the legal group to help but you have to use common sense and I believe you haven't here. I would have kept an eye on your kids at a distance until they got home, and done your job for them....so you dumped on others and didn't even know it. There are BETTER ways to instill better times and experiences without the risks of permanent rape or murder....or foster parenting....HSLDA helps me lower the risk of the latter and homeschooling is the way!

[ladyjane]

They have done some interesting work treating phobias. Fairly successful too. The techniques don’t eradicate the phobias but they make them more tolerable.

Phobias are more serious than generally thought. They can have a negative effect on the family. I worked with someone whose wife had agoraphobia. She couldn’t leave the house and could never drive. It drove her husband crazy.

[SauronOfMordor]

CPS can be amazingly meek with ghetto families who might shoot the CPS agent or start a riot if “disrespected”, but very aggressive to families who are not a threat.

In short, they behave like classic bullies.