From Danielle Meitiv’s Facebook page comes glorious news!
MORE GOOD NEWS on the free-range front:
We received the notice about CPS’ findings in the second, horrible incident when the kids were picked up on April 12th. They “ruled out” neglect, which means BOTH cases have been decided in our favor and are now closed. There is more to do to make sure this doesn’t happen to other families, but at least for now we can breathe a little easier.
I’m hoping we can now ALL breathe a little easier. It is going to be harder for any CPS officials to charge parents with neglect when it comes to letting kids walk or play outside, now that we all know exactly how this case panned out…and how ridiculous it was in the first place.
Kudos to Maryland for swallowing its pride and admitting this was never a case of bad parenting or endangered kids. And in honor of this historic day: SEND YOUR CHILDREN OUTSIDE!
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55 Comments
Woo hoo! Mine were in the sprinkler in the back yard all afternoon.
This is good news, though hardly unexpected.
I’m sure CPS will start lobbying Maryland legislators about “closing loopholes” that allow people like the Meitivs to walk away free.
Those of you with kids need to find a way to package links to Meitiv stories so they can be forwarded by you personally to your Municipality, law enforcement agencies, schools, State and Federal legislators AND of course – your local child protection agency.
Be proactive! Don’t wait till you have this problem.
Congratulations to a brave family!
My kids and the neighbors play outside, they all roam up and down the street riding bikes and playing with Nerf Guns and water pistols, I’m sure CPS is going to be looking at me soon…
Bravo to a brave family. I hope their law suit clears things up not only in MoCo, but for the whole country, so that other kids can get out there and play, without this happening to them and their family.
YAAAAAAAY! There IS some common sense left! Let’s hope it spreads 🙂
We are American military stationed in England for the last 20 months. In our British village, you seriously never see kids outside. My oldest son was constantly getting rejected when he would ask kids to play in the front yards. I blame the ridiculous lack of sidewalks, horrible roads and resulting lack of pedestrian smarts.
We just moved to base a few days ago. There are sidewalks! And runners! And bikers! And children without their parents all over the place on the playgrounds! My kids have been feasting on the outdoor opportunities. It’s been great!
Will they still be suing?
“…riding bikes and playing with Nerf Guns and water pistols…”
You are clearly a horrible parent who perpetuates violence and the 1% bicycle rider lifestyle, prepare to be SWATted.
Great news!
Question for the group — I’ve noticed that many of these cases involve one family. But what about those situations where the children who are left “alone” are from multiple families? For example, if a 10, 8, and 6 year old whose parents are neighbors and friends let their kids walk to the park together, has anyone seen CPS go after multiple families for the same incident?
Well, hopefully this will be a teachable moment for all of the folks who said, “There must be more going on with this family or the authorities wouldn’t be so interested in them.”
Here it is. The truth. The “authorities” were interested in these people because the “authorities” have to justify their existence and funding somehow, saying, “Every complaint must be investigated” and “we are just following protocols.”
“Just following procedures” is one of those ways human beings divorce themselves from personal responsibility. Every person down the chain who “responded” to the Meitiv kids being “alone” is responsible. The passerby who chose to call the authorities instead of taking the kids’ word for it that they knew their way home; the 911 operators who heard what was going on and then decided to direct the information to the police; the police who came to the scene and decided to detain the children and alert CPS instead of either sending them on their way or giving them a friendly ride home; the CPS workers who opened a file on a family whose children are well-fed, well-educated, well-loved and well-exercised (because they get themselves to the park under their own power).
The Nazis explained this kind of detraction from personal responsibility in the word “Amtssprache,” which, translated from the German, means “work speak.” “I was just following procedure” was a mantra throughout the Third Reich hierarchy at the Nuremberg trials.
We should pay attention to this tendency we have, and challenge ourselves, and our “authorities,” when we sense we are lapsing into this disconnection from our own personal agency and values. Taking responsibility for our actions is how we maintain our humanity.
This is great news! But sadly, I THINK BL may be on to something there. Hopefully there are Maryland legislators with common sense who will tell CPS to let it go.
@Andrea,
It will be interesting to know what Lenore says on that. I think I have read the whole archives and I don’t recall a case involving more than one family. It may just be harder to get more than one family willing to talk about it. But, I think the absence of such cases may be a reflection of why these incidents are a big deal in some places, and every day life in another.
In some places kids going places is normal and kids are all over the place running in mixed groups, and no one thinks anything of it. In other places, there is only one family willing to let the kids go out and play, and the activity and sight is so rare, that the kids seem perhaps nervous, and definitely out of place, so the cops get called. We shall see what happens as the ice thaws and neighborhoods start having more free-range families, with substantial amounts of helicopter culture still in place. We may be moving toward a day when we see such a case… I just hope it doesn’t happen on my street (the stage seems a bit set).
Edward Hafner said:
“Those of you with kids need to find a way to package links to Meitiv stories so they can be forwarded by you personally to your Municipality, law enforcement agencies, schools, State and Federal legislators AND of course — your local child protection agency.”
Good idea.
and….
Lenore, how about having a prominent section on your site with those links and others. Then any parent can refer others to the data easily.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
As a 911 dispatcher, I am asking that maybe we don’t blame 911 staff for this issue? If I take a call described as kids possibly being in danger, and I decide from my vantage point miles and miles away not to pass that information to the police….I can say goodbye to my job. Of course I can ask questions and get a more solid determination of what might be taking place, and pass that on to the police as well, but as free range as I might be I’m not going to become unemployed over it.
The cop was standing right there, talking to the kids, on the scene, and if he had half a brain he could have accurately assessed the situation. The bulk of the blame rests there.
Hooray for justice! This whole thing has been horrifying. Hopefully the Meitiv’s can go back to having a normal, peaceful life soon!
Edited to add:
@sigh, I abhor being compared to a Nazi because 911 procedures dictate that calls for the police are actually dispatched to police. What other types of calls would you like the 911 employees in your town to ignore, instead of following procedure, so that they aren’t akin to Nazis to you? I’m sure they would love your input.
@FreedomForKids,
Yes, it appears the Meitivs will still be suing. So says the family’s attorney. It is buried toward the end of the story here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/free-range-parents-cleared-in-second-neglect-case-after-children-walked-alone/2015/06/22/82283c24-188c-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html
Wonderful! And thank you Lenore for your part in making this happen by publicizing the story. Re: your post a few days ago, exactly this kind of outcome is a very good reason for spreading news of such instances of CPS/police over-reach.
Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does this recind their agreement (that they were forced to sign) to never leave their children unsupervised, or is that still in effect?
I think the CPS should compensate the Meitivs, for putting them through all of this, only to be found what many already saw them as… Innocent parents, doing normal parent things. At the very least, pay for their legal fees.
Some of the comments on the Washington Post story were mind-blowing, as per usual with the comments section of online news stories. I especially enjoyed the one that said round one went to “the yuppie bloggers.”
That would be Lenore, yuppie blogger extraordinaire.
There was another one about how we shouldn’t allow our twelve-year-old daughters to marry sixty-year-old men, as if that had anything to do with the issue of letting kids walk to the park alone.
And of course there was the tired old chestnut about how the world is full of danger nowadays.
These people are either trolls who enjoy stirring up trouble on the internet or they really believe the nonsense that they spew.
Beth,
There was no indication of danger in the call. Also, I hate to think about all the money spent on 911 dispatchers, if they are not going to actually think, but only do what it takes to cover their ass. If all you are going to do is transfer calls, we can get min. wagers from a temp agency.
We want professionals that can think, not just pass the buck.
Am incredibly happy for the family.
Wow Warren, that is so not what I said, but I’m certainly not going to argue with you. Believe what you want.
Also, I didn’t know you’d listened to the tape of the 911 call so good for you. All 911 calltakers are dumb idiots who need to think for themselves and not follow protocol.
My kids have been playing outside more and more with the neighbor girl. Nice part is that her parents have decided she can roam as far as mine can – a huge concession from parents who a couple years ago couldn’t imagine just letting their daughter walk the school (under a quarter mile) without them along.
I hope this sets a precedent. I’m looking forward to hearing the term, “Maryland vs Meitiv” and how it’s used as a benchmark to determine the outcome of similar cases
I totally agree with Warren.
In fact, let’s all blame the 911 operators for people getting swatted, too. Those lazy 911 operators should somehow just KNOW that those calls are fake, and they should just ignore them. In fact, they should hang up on the caller, in midsentence, if possible. Also, they should sort out the people who actually need medical assistance from the people who are hypochondriacs. In fact, why are they just sitting there, waiting for someone to call in? Why don’t they call the people who need help?
Instead, they just claim it’s “procedure” to wait until calls come in, and to take calls seriously until there’s a reason not to.
And, don’t forget, they’re the equivalent of Nazis.
Beth is under a lot of criticism and I want to stick up for her.
The police and CPS overreacted. The caller didn’t sound very clever either. There were many links in the chain that contributed to cock-up. Of all these links, I don’t think the 911 operator is the one most responsible for this mess.
Most communication is non verbal. Body language is one of the many things that support what is being said and is used to determine what actions are required. 911 operators don’t have the luxury of body language. They pass on the message to police so that the police can interpret the body language.
However I do believe 911 operator should be allowed to pass on there opinion to the police.
For example. “There is a distress call and the address is______________. I’ll leave it with you police to deal with this. However in my opinion, it’s a fake call.”
“Those lazy 911 operators should somehow just KNOW that those calls are fake, and they should just ignore them.”
They probably do know and are 95% accurate. However what about the 5% that they get wrong?
Beth: I’m sorry people are being jerks to you about this; that’s not fair. I do have a question, though. Is it true across the board that you have to pass on every call, or are there instances where you would say, “Sorry Sir, but that is not a 911 emergency. Please call your plumber instead” (or vet or whatnot, as the case may be)? I.e., if something is clearly not an emergency and/or not a crime, do you still pass the call on?
“Those lazy 911 operators should somehow just KNOW that those calls are fake”
It wasn’t fake. There were actually children walking along the sidewalk, as reported. The point is: why is that an emergency?
What if I called 911 and said (truthfully) “my neighbor got a haircut”? Why should anyone have to come and investigate? It’s a normal everyday event, not an emergency.
“What if I called 911 and said (truthfully) “my neighbor got a haircut”? Why should anyone have to come and investigate? It’s a normal everyday event, not an emergency.”
You’d get a nomination for “worst telephone prankster of the year”, and probably walk off with the trophy.
“‘Those lazy 911 operators should somehow just KNOW that those calls are fake’
It wasn’t fake.”
You cut the preceding sentence, which changes the meaning of the part you quoted. The sentence above is a reference to swatting, which inherently involves fake calls to 911.
“There were actually children walking along the sidewalk, as reported. The point is: why is that an emergency?”
It isn’t. But you could easily report it so that it sounded like it was, even though it isn’t. The 911 operator may or may not be able to tell, so they’ll send someone out to check. If the cop rolls up on them, identifies them, and the cop’s computer system says “active child neglect complaint” (as it would have on the Meitiv children’s second interaction with the police… the one where they were taken), that’s going to affect the cop’s judgment of the situation, too.
Great news!
Now to get the government to pay attorneys fees…
Thanks to your persistence in nagging about this 🙂 Atta girl, Lenore! Now let’s talk about prosecuting the folks who traumatized the family…
Right now my kid is running around outside, and I have no idea where she is! I couldn’t be happier.
“There were actually children walking along the sidewalk, as reported. The point is: why is that an emergency?”
It isn’t. But you could easily report it so that it sounded like it was
The 911 operator can determine if this warrants police response or not and can be accurate 95% of the time. What happens to the 5%?
Time to sue their arsers !
Well Beth the call was aired, and there was no indication at all of danger.
It sounds like a lot of you have listened to the tape of this call; I haven’t, so I’m at a disadvantage. The caller really didn’t indicate any type of danger, or elaborate on his/her concerns, just “two kids walking on the sidewalk on Blank Road, bye”?
Here’s the deal. Certainly the dispatcher indicate details, or lack thereof, to the police when dispatching a call. (But we would never say a call is “fake”. Good grief, can you imagine someone in scannerland hearing that? Very inappropriate and probably worth days off at minimum.) We could say “the caller couldn’t elaborate on why this was a problem” or “she was just…concerned”, using tone of voice. But yes, against everyone’s belief we would have to dispatch the police. In my city/county (population 500,000), we give the police their calls and they decide whether or not to go based on the information we have gotten. They might not go at all (loud music complaints on a Saturday night), they might call the complainant back for more information, they might drive by (group of loud drunk kids on the corner) to see if the problem still exists, they may choose more contact/investigation, again depending on the details.
I find it hard to believe that any believes that a 911 calltaker in a room far away from whatever’s being reported should be the arbiter of what’s dispatched to the police and what’s not. Maybe some of you have been dispatchers longer than I have, and have different policies at your centers, but that’s the way it is where I am.
In my opinion, those Maryland cops had many different choices of how to handle the “problem”, and none of them were the dispatcher’s fault.
(And I’m not talking about plumber calls, or haircut calls. I’m talking about calls in which a caller is requesting police response for a thing that police would generally respond to.)
I’m definitely on Beth’s side on this one, but there does seem to be a bit of confusion —
I believe James Pollock is being sarcastic, and some folks are missing that.
I just listened to the 911 call. There’s really nothing wrong or blame-worthy about what either the caller or the 911 operator did. It sounds like it was just a case of a concerned citizen who made the call because he saw something he regarded as unusual (he was only making the report because he cared about the kids’ safety); and an operator that was doing her job with due diligence. At the end of the call the operator said, “I’m going to hang up now and let the officers assess the situation.” That’s good: she wasn’t there; she was only taking someone’s account of what could’ve been (but wasn’t) a situation that required police intervention. I’m very glad the Meitiv family was cleared of all charges. It’s a good precedent set. Their kids should have never been taken into custody in the first place. Maybe this is a step in the right direction, and hopefully soon it will not be so unusual and worrisome for people to see two kids walking happily down the street together!
Celeste,
You see nothing wrong with the caller? Does that mean you call 911 when you see kids walking during the day?
Our 911 dispatchers are trained, and ask for details to determine the nature of the emergency. They don’t just blindly pass on the calls. Too many weak people worried about covering their ass.
Can’t we all just agree to blame the 911 operators, and call it a night?
(They’re like Nazis, you know.)
Finally some sanity, after the governemnt has caused needless suffering – again.
“I just listened to the 911 call. There’s really nothing wrong or blame-worthy about what either the caller or the 911 operator did. It sounds like it was just a case of a concerned citizen who made the call because he saw something he regarded as unusual (he was only making the report because he cared about the kids’ safety); and an operator that was doing her job with due diligence.”
I just listened too. The ‘concerned’ citizen describes two kids walking, who also petted his (the caller’s) dog.
I repeat, WHY IS THAT SOME KIND OF EMERGENCY? He hasn’t reported anything stranger than my hypothetical haircut call. The 911 operator should have said something like: “OK, two kids out walking. So is there any indication they’re in some sort of danger?”
Since obviously most of you are true experts in the job I’ve held for 17 years, I’m going to bow out, after repeating what I stated before:
All 911 calltakers are dumb idiots who need to think for themselves and not follow protocol.
Hi Lenore,
Two things: I have often wondered why NY’s Child Protective Services didn’t come knocking on your door after you wrote your article about permitting your nine year old child to navigate NYC streets and ride the subway by himself (especially after all the negative media attention surrounding that article), AND I wonder if you would do it again now knowing the grave potential danger of CPS involvement in your lives as a result of that decision? Would you?