Police Seize “Free-Range Kids” – Don’t Contact Parents

If you live in Maryland, you will now be subject to charges of neglect if you let your children roam in public without your immediate supervision. The Meitiv family is filing a lawsuit against Maryland CPS for seizing their children from a neighborhood park and not notifying them of their whereabouts.

It seems, according to the Sun-Sentinal, the children, 6 and 10 years old were taken from a park, two blocks from their home, by police and held, without notifying their parents, until 10:30 that same evening.

There are plenty of parents out there who need help from the state and local governments when it comes to parenting. There are parents who beat their kids. Parents who neglect their kids. Parents who leave the children unattended for days.

That is who authorities need to focus on.

Not on parents who let their kids walk the park or even wander their neighborhood nearby. That’s what we all did growing up. Letting kids do this is not neglect.

And it does not warrant police snatching up kids and taking them into custody.

The kids are being labeled “free range children.”

4NBC Washington reported:

The first officer to the scene contacted his supervisors, then CPS about 5:15 p.m. He saw a homeless man he recognized “eyeing” the children, police said.

The officer contacted another CPS employee about 6:10 p.m. for guidance, police said. At about 6:40 p.m., CPS informed him they were still making a decision. The decision to transfer the children to CPS in Rockville was made about 7:20 p.m., according to police.

“I thought I was going to be taken away from my parents,” 10-year-old Rafi Meitiv said.

Rafi told News4’s Megan McGrath that he didn’t get to see his parents for hours.

“They kept saying you can see them in a little bit,” Rafi recounted. “Finally, 10:30 … I could see them.”

The parents of the children were forced to sign an agreement, in order to get their children back, promising not to leave them unattended until the investigation is concluded.