“Free range” parents to sue authorities for taking and holding children.
Dowd was not immediately available for comment Tuesday, but said through a spokeswoman that the firm would file the legal action “soon.” He declined to say through the spokeswoman who the suit is being filed against. The firm is representing the family pro bono.
The statement issued Tuesday said the children were three blocks from their house when they were stopped by officers in three squad cars and “subjected to a terrifying detainment that no child should have to experience.”
“Shockingly, the Meitiv children experienced this maltreatment at the hands of the very government officials who are entrusted to uphold the law and ensure that children in need are taken care of,” it said.
The Meitivs are believers in a “free range” style of parenting, which holds that children learn to be self-reliant by progressively testing limits and being allowed to roam the world without hovering adults.
The statement alleged that the pair were detained in a police car for almost three hours, kept from their parents for over six hours without access to food, and “not returned to the parents until almost midnight on the night before school.”
Danielle Meitiv said that she and her husband arrived at a CPS crisis center at 8:30 p.m. and were allowed to see their children at 10:30 p.m. and take them home. Meitiv said the family had to sign papers saying the children would not be unattended while CPS followed up on the case.
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Legal age restrictions for children left at home alone. Some are guidelines and some states may have more definitive laws than others.
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Montgomery County police said Monday that a call came in to check on the children’s welfare shortly before 5 p.m. and that an officer found the children in a parking garage. Police said an officer saw a “homeless subject” who was “eyeing the children.”
Police said the officer notified CPS, as is required in circumstances involving possible child abuse or neglect. After a series of calls, police say the children were left at CPS at 7:43 p.m. Police said the officer followed the direction of CPS in the matter.
CPS officials would not answer direct questions Monday, but issued a statement saying that “protecting children is the agency’s number one priority. We are required to follow up on all calls to Child Protective Services and will continue to work in the best interest of all children.”
The Sunday episode followed an earlier incident when the Meitiv children were picked up by police as they walked home from a different Silver Spring park, about a mile from their home. In both instances, callers reported the children to police.
In the earlier case, the parents were held responsible for “unsubstantiated neglect” and informed that CPS would keep a file on the family for at least five years.
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