This Isn't Kenya: Maryland Parents Investigated by CPS for Letting 10 and 6 Year Olds Walk Home One Mile from School

From my perspective as a parent of two kids, 6 is too young to walk a mile with only a 10 year old supervision.

If this perspective indicates to you the downfall of our society, then our society is in pretty good shape.

Would never let a 6 year old walk that far with only a 10 year old.. in fact I really wouldn't want my 10 year old walking alone.

Different world now a day's from when I was growing up.

It only takes that one time to ruin your world.

Kids can stay active in sports program's at school or with there parents.

PTO wrote:

Would never let a 6 year old walk that far with only a 10 year old.. in fact I really wouldn't want my 10 year old walking alone.

Different world now a day's from when I was growing up.

It only takes that one time to ruin your world.

Kids can stay active in sports program's at school or with there parents.

This is where you are wrong. Unless of course you mean that it is now a safer world than when you were growing up.

You, like most folks, are being played like a cheap instrument by the media. Life in most parts of the US is safer now than ever. But the media (who have nothing to talk about without scandals and horror stories) have you and your ilk believing in the bogeyman.

I don't spend time around 6-10 year olds so maybe they're much dumber than they were 20 years ago, but I somewhat doubt it. I walked around 1200m each way to and from school from grades 1-3, by myself or with one other friend the same age as me. In grades 4-6 I walked my little sister, who was 3 years younger than me, along busy roads from the YMCA to school (around 1 km each way). My mother would simply drop us off at the YMCA before work and pick us up there after. My sister stayed at the day care and I would either play basketball or some other sport in the gym or read in the lounge. We never had any issues and I wouldn't trade the opportunity to play sports at the 'Y' before and after school for anything.

The only reason that I can think of for why kids these days might not be capable of doing these things is because their parents are way too involved in their lives and don't allow them to have any independence. Sad.

Must Be wrote:

These kids must be white as the cops apparently did not fear for their lives and then shoot them claiming the kids made furtive moves toward their waistbands.

I assume the kids were white. Pepper spraying them would have been adequate.

CPS is enforcing the law. According to Maryland law children under 8 require supervision. The supervisor must be at least 13.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/News/childsafety/childsafetyfaqs.html

Don't blame CPS for doing their job and enforcing the law.

rojo wrote:The kids weren't walking home from school but rather the park.

Yep, the ol' anonymous call to CPS routine. Works like a charm especially if you are an obnoxious busy body. The schools have them on speed dial too. CPS doesn't need much prompting (aka not one iota of evidence) to swoop in and harass, oops I mean save, the day!

paul2432 wrote:

CPS is enforcing the law. According to Maryland law children under 8 require supervision. The supervisor must be at least 13.

Don't blame CPS for doing their job and enforcing the law.

Not sure if you are intentionally misreading the law or not, but that law states that the child under 8 can not be left alone in a home or car. It is perfectly legal (yet still up to the parent to decide) to allow a child under 8 play outside alone.

Pointing Out the Obvious wrote:

PTO wrote:

Would never let a 6 year old walk that far with only a 10 year old.. in fact I really wouldn't want my 10 year old walking alone.

Different world now a day's from when I was growing up.

It only takes that one time to ruin your world.

Kids can stay active in sports program's at school or with there parents.

This is where you are wrong. Unless of course you mean that it is now a safer world than when you were growing up.

You, like most folks, are being played like a cheap instrument by the media. Life in most parts of the US is safer now than ever. But the media (who have nothing to talk about without scandals and horror stories) have you and your ilk believing in the bogeyman.

This is where I am right "it only takes one accident to ruin your life and your child's "

No it's the same world as when I was growing up there were freaks then and still are.

If you have a daughter and you don't worry about a bogeyman then you are just fkn stupid.

Being played hahaha- No it's called being safe.

paul2432 wrote:

CPS is enforcing the law. According to Maryland law children under 8 require supervision. The supervisor must be at least 13.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/News/childsafety/childsafetyfaqs.html

Don't blame CPS for doing their job and enforcing the law.

This was mentioned in the article already as the law only mentions that child's age if left home alone or in a car.

From your link:

"Under Maryland law, a child must be at least eight years old to be left alone in a house or car."

That does not fit the situation these children were in.

paul2432 wrote:

CPS is enforcing the law. According to Maryland law children under 8 require supervision. The supervisor must be at least 13.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/News/childsafety/childsafetyfaqs.html

Don't blame CPS for doing their job and enforcing the law.

CPS has carte blanche to enforce whatever subjective standards they wish, whenever they wish.

A very good friend of mine who happens to be a paramedic says he routinely gets calls from a particular school/CPS case worker for minor behavioral issues (e.g., temper tantrums, minor disruptive behavior). Because CPS calls the ambulance, he is required to visit the school and take the child to the hospital (of course, one affiliated with CPS) for psychiatric evaluation. This happens, of course, without the parents' knowledge. It works for everyone- takes the kids of the school's hands, justifies the CPS case worker/hospital and paramedic's salaries. He hates it, understands the economic waste and self-serving nature of it all, but is obligated to do it. He says the kids always have a great time riding in the ambulance, so that's something I guess.

joho wrote:

paul2432 wrote:

CPS is enforcing the law. According to Maryland law children under 8 require supervision. The supervisor must be at least 13.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/News/childsafety/childsafetyfaqs.html

Don't blame CPS for doing their job and enforcing the law.

This was mentioned in the article already as the law only mentions that child's age if left home alone or in a car.

From your link:

"Under Maryland law, a child must be at least eight years old to be left alone in a house or car."

That does not fit the situation these children were in.

Correct- the child was neither home nor alone. But, hey, the facts don't matter when it comes to CPS.

PTO wrote:

Pointing Out the Obvious wrote:

This is where you are wrong. Unless of course you mean that it is now a safer world than when you were growing up.

You, like most folks, are being played like a cheap instrument by the media. Life in most parts of the US is safer now than ever. But the media (who have nothing to talk about without scandals and horror stories) have you and your ilk believing in the bogeyman.

This is where I am right "it only takes one accident to ruin your life and your child's "

No it's the same world as when I was growing up there were freaks then and still are.

If you have a daughter and you don't worry about a bogeyman then you are just fkn stupid.

Being played hahaha- No it's called being safe.

Nope. Wrong again. You are being played. And you have been founding wanting.

Here's a little hint for you - there is no way to be "safe". Bubble wrap them all you want but you will NEVER be able to keep them safe.

All you can do is make reasonable tradeoffs between risks and rewards. And you my little friend are grotesquely miscalculating the risks of the stranger abduction bogeyman. Your little daughter is VASTLY more likely to be preyed upon by a friend, teacher, counselor, priest, coach or relative. Keeping her away from all those, are you?

Sorry, but you simply don't have the cranial capacity to filter out the noise from the signal where it comes to what you see and hear in 'the news'. As such, you are incapable of making rational decisions. No offense of course. Just the facts.

I walked half a mile to school when I was 5 years old up until I graduated high school (2011). Goodness this world is becoming WAY too conservative and "cautious".

I walked to and from school from the age of about 7. Everyone did at my school in the 70's.

Now everyone half the kids seem to get a lift to school. Once they are teenagers its down to laziness not looking after the kids

162430 wrote:

This is ridiculous. Has the world really changed that much? By age 10, this is what my summer days looked like: wake up at 9:30, out the door by 10am, ride around all over town on my bike with my buddies, home at 5:30 for dinner, back out the door at 6:15, home by "dark". I never had any problems...

This is pretty much like my whole childhood, except that we started that earlier. In kindergarten, I walked home with other young kids, probably a couple miles, on my first day and every day after that. Throughout elementary school, everyone not far enough for a bus walked to school. There was no line of cars dropping off and picking up kids. On weekends, we sometimes walked for miles and miles on the railroad tracks, all Stand By Me style. And this was in the D.C. suburbs in Maryland. We'd sometimes ride/walk all the way to the Mall in D.C. and then get back at dark. At evenings, of course, were all about playing games in the dark outside. Atari came along when I was 12 and then a couple years later I bought a Colecovision, but even then we'd all be outside. But around this time as well, the crackdown started because in the late 1970s and early 1980s (when the murder rate was much higher than it is now), a series of famous child abductions and murders took place and received far more publicity than they had before. After that, there became almost no chance of child freedom. There are also a lot more cars and trucks on the roads today. Still, the cops should not be harassing parents for letting their kids walk home from school. There's more harm from sitting around in cars and at home getting fat and unhealthy than from getting exercise and energy out and learning a little autonomy.

A couple other things....

Walking to the end of your street with other kids and parents is not the same as crossing streets in an urban setting. If my 6 yr old had to cross a busy intersection to get to her bus stop she wouldn't be doing it without adults or a crossing guard.

A 6 year old needs more supervision than just a 10 yr old. I'm pretty sure I'm in the majority with this. 10 yr old is different. Heck I was out bike riding the town at 10.

Also....asbestos, lead paint and no seatbelts were once seen as safe in the 70s.

Also...laws are even more conservative. In most states you need adult supervision until 12-13.

Alan

walk a mile wrote:

SWAZ wrote:

CPS needs to re-evaluate their priorities.

This. CPS is a government-funded entity with carte blanche to investigate (aka harass) whomever they wish with no hard evidence in hand. The organization has a vested interest in initiating investigations, warranted or not, as a way to drum up business and keep themselves employed. They complain that the system is overwhelmed and that more money is needed to hire more people, etc. It's a farce especially considering that the organization can't even adequately protect children who have been seriously abused from falling through the cracks. The organization needs a serious overhaul, but too many people/employees are profiting from the current system.

This is really as good as an explanation for why CPS got involved that has been posted so far however it leaves out one important part - the reason CPS got involved in this particular case is because it's easy. Obviously there is no real danger in being that age and walking a mile home from a park (in fact it's way more dangerous to drive that distance than to walk, the chances in dying in a car accident are astronomically higher than being abducted or being in a pedestrian accident) but it's so much easier from an employee from CPS to get involved in this situation than to go into dangerous neighborhoods and involved themselves in children there. The parents in this case are going to let you into the house and be polite because they no that telling CPS to f**k off is going to invite more problems. The CPS is like every other government bureaucracy - they have to show that they're busy but they aren't going to do anything but the easiest thing.

runningart2004 wrote:

A couple other things....

Walking to the end of your street with other kids and parents is not the same as crossing streets in an urban setting. If my 6 yr old had to cross a busy intersection to get to her bus stop she wouldn't be doing it without adults or a crossing guard.

A 6 year old needs more supervision than just a 10 yr old. I'm pretty sure I'm in the majority with this. 10 yr old is different. Heck I was out bike riding the town at 10.

Also....asbestos, lead paint and no seatbelts were once seen as safe in the 70s.

Also...laws are even more conservative. In most states you need adult supervision until 12-13.

Alan

False equivalency... Those things were scientifically found to be unsafe. The same is not true of unsupervised walking, which is probably a good deal safer than driving.