Mom jailed for letting 9 year old play in park

[Myira]

I am wondering what i would do if we saw a child playing alone at the park for a long period of time. My girls are close to 8....if they made friends with a little girl while we were playing and then said goodbye and somehow realized the little girl was alone I would ask where her parents were. If she said they were at work, I would keep asking questions. Where do they work, how long have you been here? Are you having a good day? When will they come back? I would be reluctant to leave that child, no matter how busy the park is. I don't know if i would call the police but i don't fault the mom who did. If I learned that the mom went to jail I would be beside myself upset. I don't know....I am a helicopter mom for sure.

I completely agree with this and see myself doing the same. My childhood was spent much more free range than today's kids for sure, but I cannot fathom my parents leaving me even at 9 at a public park to play alone all day. On the other hand, I completely agree that this is not endangering a child by parent situation where child needs to be removed and the mom being arrested is simply unbelievable.

[AnnieW625]

I don't think anyone is saying that this is an ideal situation. However, I think it speaks volumes that the amount of money something like this costs society in the criminal justice and foster care systems dwarfs what it would cost for childcare should we decide to prioritize that.

Yep,

[crayonblue]

I just finished reading Free Range Kids and think it made some pretty awesome points. Particularly that helicoptering is hugely detrimental to kids. I would be so OK with leaving my 10 yr old just about anywhere for long periods of time because I know her and heck, she is far more resourceful than me in many ways! But I can't give her many of the opportunities I would like simply because of other people and their irrational fears.

[BunnyBee]

Although I don't think the "park solution" is appropriate for all-day, multiple day childcare, I don't think it is enough *in a vacuum* to arrest the parent and put the child in foster care. Is the park in a safe area? There are parts of North Augusta I wouldn't want to be out in a park. Does the child have food, water, restroom access? Is the child behaving appropriately? Did the big bad evil meddling mom (eyeroll) ask, "Where's your mother?!?!" because the child was being a jerk or because she was worried? Why is calling the police a bad thing? If there's something that seems amiss, shouldn't we rely on (theoretically) trained professionals rather than substitute our own judgment for someone else's child? Like Melaine said, I wouldn't know what to do. I wouldn't want to walk away and leave a kid who could be in trouble, but I can't just sit around the park all day. The police investigated and thought there was reason to charge. Now it's up to the prosecutor.

Yes, socioeconomic status affects arrest probability. But I don't think the mom would've been arrested, whatever her SES, if the child were playing at a park up the street from her home and expected back in an hour (or whatever). Lack of affordable, safe, quality childcare is a HUGE problem. I don't think the solution is to leave kids alone in a public park.

[larig]

If you feel strongly, as I do, that an injustice has been done you can donate to a fund to help Debra and her daughter here. http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neig...harrell/204837

So far the goal of 10,000 has been met and exceeded by almost $8000, in just a few short days.

It is a shame this is the best we can do for a poor working mother and her child.

[georgiegirl]

Last summer I was at the park with my kids for a play date with another mom. We noticed a group of three kids that didn't seem to have adult supervision. The oldest was maybe 9 or so and the youngest was probably 4 or so. The little one scraped her leg and the older one asked me for a bandaid. We asked who she was with and the girls said they lived a few blocks away. I didn't know what to do since I didn't think the three kids should have been there unsupervised (particularly in charge of a 4 year old.). But I didn't want to call the police or DHS because I knew it wouldn't help the situation and would likely just make things worse. It did make me sad though.

[TwinFoxes]

But then, what if all parents were arrested for letting their 9 yo's play without a parent present?

I don't think the woman would have been arrested if she was a rich SAHM down the street, just home and not needing to work. I have seen maps and it was a very short walk from the McDonald's to the playground. I heard about it before this blog post was up (haven't clicked on the blog post).

How much money is this prosecution/incarceration/placement costing? If only she had access to some of that money for childcare, she wouldn't have this problem.

When I was a kid we'd leave at around 9 and come back around 5 when my dad got home. We had no cell phone, and crime rates were higher in the 80s than they are now. The only difference is no Nancy Grace, and no busybodies who think they are part of the parenting police. Can we just decide to stop calling the cops on people when there's no actual danger?

[TwinFoxes]

If there's something that seems amiss, shouldn't we rely on (theoretically) trained professionals rather than substitute our own judgment for someone else's child?

I'll take my judgment any day in this situation. I think your "theoretically" is a big theoretical...I don't think most police are trained to do an assessment of safety. They think worse case scenario and act accordingly.

[ChristinaLucia]

It's just so strange. At 9 I'm pretty sure my friends and I spent all daylight hours exploring with no parents present and no one worried about us. My mom was at home but I certainly wasn't there. Not that I think this is an ideal situation, but jailed?

[BunnyBee]

I'll take my judgment any day in this situation. I think your "theoretically" is a big theoretical...I don't think most police are trained to do an assessment of safety. They think worse case scenario and act accordingly.

But you weren't in this situation. You didn't see the girl or speak to her. The mom who called the police doesn't deserve to be vilified. She did nothing wrong. We don't know the whole situation. Maybe the mom had been warned before this. We don't know the child. She might be the most mature, resourceful child on the planet. Or she might have been scared and overwhelmed and in an unsafe situation. The police are trained to handle child endangerment situations. Of course there are officers with poor judgment, but no way am I going to pretend that I know so much better than the people who interviewed the child and mother based on some lady's blog post (who's getting $$ off blog hits and book sales).

Sadly, I'm suspicious of people who publicize situations--think of the grandmother who totally made up the KFC encounter with her granddaughter to get money. Or the many thousands raised for Cooper Harris's father (which PayPal refunded but it's not clear whether he got the money as well).