Leaving A Child Unsupervised
Do You Know The Law?
Parents in Maryland made recent headlines when their children were picked up by law enforcement while playing unsupervised. The news has reignited the social media debate on parenting styles. On the one hand, we have all seen the helicopter parent who incessantly inserts himself or herself into every activity their child participates in. Perhaps it’s the mother who rushes onto the soccer field to complain about a bad call or the father who exchanges harsh words with the baseball coach for sending his daughter to play outfield (You can read about how a Florida Lawmaker trying to pass a bill to stop these outbursts here). The poor child blushes in shame while the adults make a spectacle.
On the other hand, some parents adopt the “free range” parenting style. Those parents believe that allowing their children to play unsupervised cultivates self-reliance, independence and responsibility. The conflict in these two mind sets takes center stage when the police are summoned.
The Maryland couple, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, are under investigation by Child Protective Services for allowing their 10 year old son and 6 year old daughter to play without supervision at a park just walking distance from their home. Seeing the children unattended, a neighbor called 911. Law enforcement then detained the children without notifying the parents for several hours.
I recall as a child that my parents allowed me similar freedom. Of course, the world was a much different place back then. I suspect that world also had sexual predators, human traffickers and others with bad intentions against children. Perhaps there were not as many of those miscreants as today. Either way, we just didn’t hear much about them. Back then, the “internet” consisted of Gladys Kravitz and a carrier pigeon.
Irrespective of which parenting style you lean toward, it behooves all of us to understand the law. Florida law provides that a “person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects a child and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the child commits a felony of the second degree …” This law would arguably apply if a child were left unattended for extended periods of time and ends up injured. Of course, the younger the child, the shorter the period of time would be before a serious injury would likely occur. In other words, age matters.
Recently, a woman in Port St. Lucie narrowly avoided charges for allowing her 7 year old son to walk a half mile to a park without supervision. The mother had provided her son a cell phone that he wore with a strap on his neck. Although the mother was arrested and cuffed, Assistant State Attorney Bruce Harrison declined to prosecute. “I believe it was negligent but I don’t believe it wound up to culpable negligence.”
In the Maryland case, law enforcement acted harshly. Ms. Meitiv posted on Facebook that police “coerced our children into the back of a patrol car, telling them they would drive them home. They kept the kids trapped there for three hours, without notifying us, before dropping them at the Crisis Center, and holding them there without dinner for another two and a half hours. We finally got home at 11 pm and the kids slept in our room because we were all exhausted and terrified.”
No right minded person wants to see harm come to a child, so I can certainly understand the motivations of a person calling 911 when a small child roams the neighborhood alone. However, I can also empathize with a parent who allows her child a little freedom only later to experience the heavy hand of the state. Should Big Brother second guess Mom and Dad?
In light of what’s at stake, child safety should come first. While I don’t judge severely the couple in Maryland, in the world of today, I think we would all do well to keep better watch over our children.
At Perenich Law, we take child safety very seriously. If you or a loved one has a child who was injured due to the negligence of another, please give us a call.