Posted on 04/14/2015 11:22:57 AM PDT by drewh
Two suburban Washington, D.C., parents are under scrutiny again for letting their 6- and 10-year-old children play in a park and walk home alone in a case that has stirred debate about "free-range" parenting and government powers.
For the second time in four months, police picked up the children of Danielle and Alexander Meitiv on Sunday as they were walking home alone from a park that's nearly a mile from their house. This time, instead of bringing the children home, police took them directly to Child Protective Services.
"It's beyond ridiculous," Danielle Meitiv said Monday. "The world is safer today, and yet we imprison our children inside and wonder why they're obese and have no focus."
The Meitivs, who live 6 miles from Washington in Silver Spring, Maryland, believe in "free-range" parenting, which includes allowing their children to play and walk alone in the neighborhood to teach them self-reliance and responsibility.
Danielle Meitiv said she and her husband began worrying when the kids weren't home by 6:30, but that Child Protective Services didn't call them until 8 p.m. to say the children were in their custody.
Police had picked them up on the walk home after another concerned citizen called.
The Meitivs were able to take their children home around 10:30 p.m.
"This morning my daughter wanted to go play in the yard and I couldn't let her out because I was making breakfast," Danielle Meitiv said. "Are they prisoners? She's 6 and she's not allowed to play in the yard?"
The case has drawn international media coverage, and Danielle Meitiv said the couple has heard from people all over the world. The majority have been supportive, Meitiv said, but some have expressed outrage at the couple's parenting style.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
exactly
why is a 6 years old kid staying out at 10.30pm in the cold at dark and are these parents leaving the kids to go to dinner and have a nice drink?
There is more to the story than being told.
My oldest aged 17 is back by 11.00 at the weekend in his car and yet they leave a 6 years old in a park in the dark, in the old.
lousy parents if you can call tem parents. end of.
All well and good saying how one was raised 60 years ago, times were different and safer.
the parents were not notified by CPS that they had the kids till 8:00pm and didn’t get the kids back till 10:30
It takes a police state village to indoctrinate the children!
Was you 6 and staying out till 10.30pm in the dark and cold too?
No I bet your parents did not let you do that and where were these parents, having dinner at a restaurant.
The kid was six years old for crying out loud out at 10.30pm.
Does no one ever read the articles anymore ?
Bingo. Make children dependent so they'll look to those in authority their whole life. Perfect training for serfs who are always to bow down to big government.
I don ‘t think that these kids were out at 10:30 P.M. !
They were picked up at an undisclosed time and kept at the police station until that time.....per the article.
Good question. Apparently missed the part where CPS kidnapped the kids about 6:PM when they were about half way home and didn't call the parents until 8:PM then wouldn't release them until 10:30.
I had roughly the same experience we roamed all over the area, even “up town.” (Maybe times have changed.)
Before I pass judgment though I’d like to know the background to these parents, the area, child molesters in the area.
Have they been left out every night till it’s late and dark and cold at their age?
I am not saying the gestapo should come in because I know first hand growing up I foster homes and the street the child services make mistakes but I would like more info before I pass judgment.
The kids were abducted by the police and the parents knew something was up when the kids didn’t return home by 6:30 p.m....CPS didn’t notify the parents until after 8:00 p.m. and the parents weren’t able to bring the kids home until after 10:00 p.m.
There is no “wth” there...except for the government goons.
“Oh Fatherland, Fatherland, show us a sign, your children are waiting to see.....”
They were but where were the parents? I’d be frantic if my kids did not show after an hour and yet did they go to the police, were they out looking or did they know because this has happened before and they have been in trouble with child services.
Firstly I think they are stupid for living there in a liberal state or town.
Secondly I think there is more to this than we all know right now .
My point is where were the parents , were they looking, did they know from last time DCF had them, did the kids have cell phones so the parents can keep in contact, was it cold, are there child molesters in the area, gangs, druggies?
Before we all pass judgment and tell each other how we were raised 60 years ago lets get all the facts.
“Was you 6 and staying out till 10.30pm in the dark and cold too?”
I was a little older. 8-9. In the wintertime I would take my hockey stuff and walk to Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island to play hockey at 11:00 at night. My father would pick me up at the rink at 2 in the morning after his shift let off.
Different times.
And chalk, don't forget the chalk for the outlines.
Back then if a someone attempted to abduct a kid the bystanders would beat their ass instead of pull out their phones and video it.
They were different times sadly.
I don’t even let my kids leave my street now , my oldest at the weekend is back by 11.00pm in his car.
Way too many idiots now, back then we had our locals to look out for the neighborhood and child molesters etc were not welcomed. Now they have more rights than hard working honest folk.
The first time this happened, some busy body called the police, when he or she saw the kids playing in a park. This time, the parents took them to a different park and obviously it happened again.
Is there more to this story ? Probably and it has to do with crazy people, the police, and an intrusive child protective (SIC )agency !
I appreciate that the world is different than it was when we were kids. But the number of un-related child abductions in the U.S. Last year was an abysmally small number.
Chances are YOU know somebody who knows somebody hit by lightning. Do you know anyone who knows anyone who has had a child abducted by a stranger? That’s how slight the risk is.
But because it is blasted all over the TVs when it does happen, folks think it’s common. It’s not common.
Parents need to relax.
exactly just said the same.
All neighborhoods at the locals who took care of the area, . Child molesters, druggies etc were told they were not welcomed and this was off fathers, older sons.
Now those scum have more rights than the honest folk.
We can’t say how we were raised back then to today as it is very different in most of the country.
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