WASHINGTON — Children playing or walking outside unsupervised should not be investigated as possible victims of neglect unless they’ve been hurt or subjected to potential harm, says the Maryland Department of Human Services in a policy clarification released this month.
The department issued revised screening and intake procedures to county-level Child Protective Services offices this month. And the new document says that children who are unsupervised while playing or walking are not necessarily the victims of neglect.
“DHR supports parents in raising healthy, well-adjusted children. DHR 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,” the agency said in a statement.
The policy clarification comes on the heels of two investigations of possible child neglect by a set of Silver Spring parents, who believe in a philosophy called free range parenting. They allowed their children to walk to a community park and home again alone.
The Meitivs were cleared of one allegation but a second neglect investigation remains open.
The second time Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6, were picked up by police, Danielle Meitiv says she and her husband weren’t notified for hours that the children, whom they believed were missing, were actually safe and with authorities.
Meitiv calls the policy clarification a step in the right direction, but she believes more action is necessary.
“The harm has still been done and we really want to make a statement and make a change and hopefully set precedent that will keep other families out of this type of trauma,” she says.
Meitiv wants parental permission to be included among factors considered when CPS investigates reports of unattended or unsupervised children and the potential of neglect. She believes people making complaints should be required to identify themselves and be given the option of confidentiality.
Meitiv says giving children freedom and responsibility is part of a well-thought out parenting philosophy.
“I want to teach them that they are strong, competent, responsible individuals, that the world is not a horrible scary place and that they can handle challenges,” Meitiv says.
She believes the way to accomplish that “is by giving them little challenges and letting them take little risks that grow in complexity from the time they’re this age until they’re adults and on their own in the world.”
The Meitivs are considering legal action against the Montgomery County CPS and the county police department, claiming the family’s civil rights were violated.
