‘Free-range parenting’ glitch – parents charged for children walking home alone

OneNews 5 March 2015
The situation surrounding one US family has triggered fierce debate about the concept of free-range parenting after the parents were charged with neglect for letting their children walk home by themselves.

This morning, the Maryland parents who made headlines for letting their 10 and six-year-olds walk a mile home from a park without adult supervision were found responsible by Child Protective Services for unsubstantiated child neglect after police picked up the two children walking on a Saturday afternoon after someone reported them.

“It’s shocking, it’s hurtful, it’s traumatic. It never occurred to me that I could get caught up in something like this,” mother Danielle Meitiv says.

Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they knew their style of parenting, known as free-range parenting – giving children more space and more responsibility – was old-fashioned, but they never thought it would come under investigation.

Child Protective Services says Maryland’s state law states that children under the age of eight must be under the care of a person who is at least 13.
http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/free-range-parenting-glitch-parents-charged-children-walking-home-alone-6248379