“A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a “safety plan” for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a “safety person” to be a “knowing participant and guardian” and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son’s phone allowing for his location to be monitored. (The day when it will be illegal not to track one’s kids is rapidly approaching.)”
I read the article, and the only abuse here is the state abusing its authority.
I don’t really know much about the mother other than what’s in the story, but she obviously raised a child who feels independent enough to walk a mile to town by himself at age 11. (The title says “10”, but the article says “11”.) I would say that this is a positive thing.
On the other hand, the state is threatening to take away all of her children with this single incident. The state wants to break up this family unless she complies with all of their invasive demands. Breaking up a family seems like tyranny, especially in response to such an innocent incident.
When I was 11, that was 5th grade and we would rotate being on “safety patrol” which is where you would stand, by yourself, at certain intersections and make sure the younger kids waited for cars to pass and it was safe before crossing the street. Of course we walked to those spots by ourselves. And by age 12 I was babysitting other people’s kids.
So those people and their rules are crazy. If we really aren’t letting kids walk somewhere by themselves by age 10-11, no wonder our society is so dysfunctional. This has got to be very detrimental to the personal and social development of the children.
I’d be willing to bet she’s a single mother and these people are just going after her for that sin and to flaunt their power over someone they perceive as weak and evil. Otherwise, it makes no sense at all. I was forced to walk to the store alone many times starting at like 6 or 7, and I rode my bike all over the place from like 8 and up, way more than a mile from the house. And the crime rates are way lower now in most of the country. And there weren’t cell phones.
It was less than a mile to town.
Literally less than a mile.
It absolutely boggles my mind. When I was in 5th grade we rode bikes everywhere without anyone caring outside being home in time to eat and do homework. Less than a mile is visible without effort, possibly even if there are hills in the way.
My grandmother literally used a whistle. I had to stay within hearing distance. Which was pretty loud tbh. We played outside all day though 😋 I didn’t get my first cell phone until 2003 I think. I hate to say it was better back in my day… because it really wasn’t by many metrics. But by that metric, I think it mattered.
This is insane. When exactly is a permissible age for kids to be walking about on their own?
Things are absolutely different today than they were when I was a kid. My parents never had any idea where I was. They simply said “be home by dinner” and I was home by dinner. Did we get into trouble? Absolutely. But that’s part of being kids.
Fast forward to today. My partner and I don’t see eye to eye on this because of how things feel so unsafe now. I know how valuable that independence was for me though, so I tend towards permissiveness.
The thing is, kids still walk to school in all kinds of localities. I remember walking to school on a much busier road than the one described in this article. The worst I ever encountered was teenagers throwing eggs once. (Haha. They missed.) And yeah, drivers may hit you. I get it. The government can help mitigate that with better planning and sidewalks, if they actually cared.
But a tracking app too!? Where the government can know my kids location?! That presumes my children even have a phone with a mobile plan, which is a privilege the government isn’t paying for. And if they did, @#$& you government! Seriously. WTF?!
I’m both flabbergasted and not. Because, these days, I pretty much only expect fuckery. I wish that weren’t the case. I often hope it isn’t. And I love being surprised when it’s not the case. But 🤬!
I was around this kid’s age when I was at a friend’s house for a sleep over and we decided to leave his house at 2 am and go downtown and see what was happening. We had big backpacks full of stuff because we were 10 and it was an adventure. Cops drove by and looked at us as they drove by and didn’t slow down. And the town was a whole hell of a lot bigger than the 370 population of this one. There were also a lot of people likely to be stumbling out of the downtown bars at 2 am, but I don’t remember anything other than the cops driving by and looking at us. Apparently Indiana cops back then didn’t think it was all that big a deal.
But things have changed for kids since the 1980s and, in cases like this, not for the better.
If anything, the cops should have been more on the ball in your case. I would have been grateful as a parent. Bring the kid home and let it end there. What happened in this article is describing something so very far on the other side of the pendulum. Good grief.
As for me, I managed to stay out of sight of the police. And I will admit that there are times when the police would have had very very good reason to take me downtown. 😬 I can’t even count how many times the cops brought my older brother home. But in every case, it ended there.
I’m guessing the cops want to make sure kids are better controlled these days that way they can more effectively shoot other innocent kids with all that extra free time they have.
I wouldn’t mind having USPS offer cellular service and Internet, as a service. Bring back basic banking at the post office too. Solid revenue streams for the USPS and cuts out the cancer of ISPs and cell companies.
I would have thought a red state like Georgia would not have what they call “Nanny state” laws? I’d like to see the actual wording of the “reckless conduct” law they would be charging her under. Does it actually specify how, when and where your children can go unsupervised and what ages of children it applies to, or do the cops just get to “use their own judgement”?
edit to add: I feel sorry for kids growing up today and apparently in the last 20 years or so. When I was a kid our mothers just said “Be back by supper” and we went out and played wherever. they didn’t know where we were. No cell phones to track us.
Meanwhile, in ‘Commie-fornia’, I regularly see kids that age riding on the (public, not school) bus alone. And when I lived in New York I’d see them on the subway. Not the slightest bit unusual in the early afternoon when school lets out.
But conservatives are terrified of their neighbors, for some reason. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Republicans love that shit. They hate regulation that stops large faceless coporations from deatroying the environment or working their employees to death but they can’t get enough of controlling everyone who isn’t like them.
In this case I really can’t tell what it is they want to control, though, besides maybe a small community harrassing someone they don’t like for reasons we don’t know?
The other side of the coin is when kids are legitimately getting abused and it gets brushed off as a kid “acting out”.
