The directive is part of a public statement that was issued Friday, and it follows the nationally debated case involving “free range” parents Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, who let their kids Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6, walk home alone from parks in Montgomery County, The Washington Post reports.
Over time the Meitivs have gradually allowed the two kids more freedom to walk in areas that they know well. Police, however, have picked up the kids twice as they made their way home in Silver Spring. Subsequent CPS neglect investigations followed, the Meitivs say.
The couple was cleared on appeal in May regarding one neglect case. Now they await a decision in the other, they say.
In a statement, Paula Tolson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Resources, said the state “is mindful that every family applies its members own personal upbringing, life experiences and expectations to parenting, and it is not the department’s role to pick and choose among child-rearing philosophies and practices,” Reuters reports.
The first incident, which happened in December, sparked national debate over allowing allowing young children to walk or play alone outside without parental supervision and over government overstepping its bounds.
CPS found the Meitivs responsible for “unsubstantiated child neglect” after police stopped Rafi and Dvora while they were walking home from the park in Silver Spring, a Washington suburb. In May, the finding was dropped.
In the second incident, which occurred on April 12, the Meitivs are also being investigated by CPS on neglect charges. In this instance, police picked up the kids while they were walking home from a different park. The children were held for five hours by the police.
This new policy addresses the protocol for detaining kids that are the subject of alleged neglect cases. The policy requires the immediate notification of a supervisor before a child can be detained by authorities, Reuters reports.
State officials had no comment on the Meitivs’ experiences, but did say such matters are confidential by law. They stressed that they don’t have any interest in trumping the choices parents make, the Washington Post reports.
“We are not getting into the business of opining on parenting practices or child-rearing philosophies,” Katherine Morris, spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Human resources told the Post. “We don’t view that as our role. We see our role as responding when a child is harmed or at a significant risk of harm. It’s all about child safety.”
The updated directive focuses on CPS screening practices but doesn’t reflect a new position, Morris said. Instead, it comes from a well-established regular agency review process as “additional clarification” to the public and local departments of social services, she said. The aim is to provide consistency and alignment in step with laws and regulations.
The directive replaces a similar one issued last year, but includes new sections on unattended and unsupervised children, the Washington Post reports.
The document specifically touches on the Meitiv case, stating: “Children playing outside or walking unsupervised does not meet the criteria for a CPS response absent specific information supporting the conclusion that the child has been harmed or is at substantial risk of harm if they continue to be unsupervised.”
The document lists some of the factors that CPS considers, including the nature of any injury, any parental actions taken to minimize risks, the age of a child, and the period of time and the setting involved.
On Thursday, Danielle Meitiv said that the state’s move sounds like a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough.
“I’m glad they’re clarifying it, but it still doesn’t give reassurance to parents that their desire to give their children freedom will be respected,” she said. The Meitivs say they intend to file a lawsuit.
Matthew Dowd, an attorney for the Meitivs, noted that the states new policy “validates our position all along that there was never any neglect or potential neglect with the Meitiv children.”
While the directive could provide CPS employees with guidance, it’s still short on detail, Dowd said. It lists factors that CPS will consider, for instance, but provides “no insight as to how CPS will apply those factors,” he said.
“I think it’s written so broadly it will depend on how CPS implements this policy moving forward,” he said. “It doesn’t give you any guidance where they will draw the line in the future.”
In a similar case, the children of a Florida woman were taken from their home for a month when a neighbor reported the family to CPS because the family’s 11-year-old son was left outside unattended for 90 minutes, Reason.com’s Hit and Run Blog reports.
The parents in this story didn’t want their names to be used because they didn’t want to provoke the government officials handling their case. The mother has real concerns that she may lose her job should her identity be revealed.
On one afternoon in April, the couple was unable to get home in time to let their 11-year-old son into the house, and the boy didn’t have a key. So he was content to play basketball in the yard, but then a neighbor called the cops. The parents arrived, having been delayed by traffic and rain, and they were arrested for negligence, Hit and Run reports here.
Then they were put in handcuffs, strip searched, fingerprinted, and spent the night in jail.
An entire month went by before their sons (the couple’s youngest son is 4-years-old), were allowed to go home, and this was only after the eldest son begged a judge to give him back to his parents.
After a lot of legal back-and-forth and a lot of stress, the case was closed, but that’s not the end. The couple also has to appear in criminal court, where they will plead “not guilty” to the neglect charge.
It remains to be seen how CPS will change its rules and regulations regarding “free range” kids, but it’s quite clear changes need to be made.
