Kids Who Walk Home Alone: Neglected or Independent?

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The Silver Spring parents at the center of a national debate on parenting styles -- for letting their 10- and 6-year-old children walk home from a park without mom and dad – have been found responsible for child neglect by county investigators.

Patch readers have logged more than 400 comments to date on the story debating whether the government is intruding into family life, or suggesting the parents in the case aren’t doing their job to keep their children safe.

A sampling from the comment stream:

“No one should let their children, in this day and age walk home alone at that age, writes reader sweeteee53. How would the 10 year old protect the 6 year old?? This is common sense. Apparantly they are lacking in it. “Loose parenting” sounds like another excuse not to take care of your children.”

Carlos nells says: “They cannot function alone against predators, what nonsense.”

But, Axe22 disagrees, writing: “Things are so much safer now than they ever were but people are filled with so much idiotic fear thanks to TV news and other media sensationalizing things like abductions. There are parents in my neighborhood who are afraid to let their kids walk 1,000 yards to the elementary school around the corner. These are kids who in some cases have cell phones! When I was in elementary school I would walk a mile and cross multiple big roads and nobody thought twice even though it was in the highest crime decade the US has ever seen.”

Montgomery County Child Protective Services sent a letter Feb. 20 to Danielle and Alexander Meitiv telling the parents they are responsible for child neglect, reports Montgomery Community Media. The couple has a right to appeal the finding.

The county agency will keep a file on the family for at least five years, reports The Washington Post, which could leave the Meitivs vulnerable to prosecution if they let their children, Rafi, 10, and younger sister Dvora, 6, walk unattended.

»Do you think children younger than teenagers are safe on their own in public? At what point should authorities step in? Tell us in comments below.

Maryland law prohibits children under the age of eight from being unattended in a dwelling or car, but makes no reference to the outdoors, reports WUSA TV.

The couple says they will appeal the finding, and will continue to allow their children to play or walk together.

“We don’t feel it was appropriate for an investigation to start, much less conclude that we are responsible for some form of child neglect,” Danielle Meitiv told The Post.

“We are paying legal fees. We can’t afford this … It’s just a horrible inhuman process,” she told MYMCMedia.

»»See the earlier story here: Parents Who Let Kids Walk Home Alone Found Responsible for Neglect

More Patch Reader Comments:

From pskitty: I’m all for loose parenting. I’m a product of it, and at 72, I think I can speak back to a time when kids had real freedom.

From vicious: I understand people are concerned but gracious twas a mile, they were together, they have been taught street crossings and how to deal with strangers; why penalize parents who are trying to raise children with common sense and a sense of responsibility.

Charles writes: Everytime CPS fails to protect a child, we hear about how overloaded they are with cases. It’s no wonder if this is their priority.

And RC says: This ruling is nuts!