Child plays at park while parent works....

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Article

In South Carolina, a 46-year-old black woman has been arrested for letting her daughter play in a nearby park while trying to earn a living. "The mother, Debra Harrell, has been booked for unlawful conduct towards a child," a local TV station reports. "The incident report goes into great detail, even saying the mother confessed to leaving her nine-year-old daughter at a park while she went to work."

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/...-alone/374436/

My thoughts: They could have issued a warning and asked the parent if she needs help finding a community-based summer/after school program or child sitter. They didn't have to take the kid unless there was a history of neglect or abuse

What say you, GC?

[Low D Flat]

Exactly what you said.

[Kevin]

I disagree completely with the state's response. That's some stranger danger bullshit right there. This merited an investigation which should have resulted in no finding of neglect. Instead, the state has chosen to spend its finite resources to traumatize a family which did nothing wrong. At a time where we have such a high rate of childhood obesity, we should be happy when a child doesn't mind playing outside for several hours at a time.

I like how the article illustrated how irrational the state's response with this activity was as compared to having your children ride with you in the car.

[DrPhil]

I agree.

Was the state trying to avoid bad publicity (they got it, anyway) and doing a "better safe than sorry" approach?

[irishpipes]

Perhaps some of the $3.7 billion the government wants to spend on completely unaccompanied minors who aren't Americans could be used to help someone like this family.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I agree.

Was the state trying to avoid bad publicity (they got it, anyway) and doing a "better safe than sorry" approach?

In my experience whether a pickup order is issued is most often decided by a poorly trained, minimally educated individual who has only a glancing bit of court oversight. In Oklahoma, the only burden the state has to make after the caseworker has made the individual determination to pick the kid up is whether that caseworker had a "suspicion" which was "reasonable" that abuse or neglect is happening.

I understand legislatures wanting to tip the scales in the direction of protecting children, but few of them understand how potent and dangerous the combination of a referral being made by someone with a bad agenda and a stupid caseworker can be nor how common a combination that actually is.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Perhaps some of the $3.7 billion the government wants to spend on completely unaccompanied minors who aren't Americans could be used to help someone like this family.

There are billions of other dollars to be scrutinized and redistributed.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Perhaps some of the $3.7 billion the government wants to spend on completely unaccompanied minors who aren't Americans could be used to help someone like this family.

I'm questioning the relevance of this comment. The government spends money on all kinds of things. This story is about a child protective services worker who probably overreacted to a situation and has embarrassed herself and her agency.

You're talking about an entirely separate humanitarian crisis.

[DrPhil]

^^^ I agree.

Tax payers have a right to question where federal money is spent. However, it is a relative low percent of federal dollars being spent on children crossing the boarder. Much more state and federal dollars are spent on U.S. citizens. The question should be how the money is spent and other issues such as those discussed in that "baby born to a drug addict" thread.

[33girl]

Quite frankly, I think it's far more "abusive" (note quotes) to force a 9 year old to stare at a laptop all day sitting at McDonald's with all manner of skeeves popping in and out.

Oh and the nebby person who reported this needs a big old fish slap. Unless the girl looked neglected or appeared to be hurt, why is this your business?

[TonyB06]

The mom's in a tough situation but consistently leaving a child unspervised, even while holding down a daily
8-hour shift, is a problem. It's made even worse by leaving the child in a public space where who knows what could happen.

What if the child had been abducted or otherwise violated? Who wouldn't be saying "how could the child have (consistently) been left unsupervised?"

I'm interested in what steps the mother took initially, and up until arrrest, to find supervision -- family, friends, etc... Don't know her background so don't have a firm opinion on whether she should have been arrested vs. sternly warned. But, from facts presented, I can't argue with the arrest.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by TonyB06

The mom's in a tough situation but consistently leaving a child unspervised, even while holding down a daily
8-hour shift, is a problem. It's made even worse by leaving the child in a public space where who knows what could happen.

What if the child had been abducted or otherwise violated? Who wouldn't be saying "how could the child have (consistently) been left unsupervised?"

I'm interested in what steps the mother took initially, and up until arrrest, to find supervision -- family, friends, etc... Don't know her background so don't have a firm opinion on whether she should have been arrested vs. sternly warned. But, from facts presented, I can't argue with the arrest.

When I was that age, I was riding my bicycle all over town with friends. That was the 1980s and IIRC, child abductions, etc., are far more rare now than they were then. I lived, so did nearly all of my friends.

Kids, depending on their maturity level don't always need 24/7 supervision. Parents these days are overly paranoid and overly protective of children. Some of the dangers we're so worried about just don't exist.

[Low D Flat]

How about we find this kid's father and arrest him...something tells me he's not busting his butt all day to feed his child like her mother is.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Low D Flat

How about we find this kid's father and arrest him...something tells me he's not busting his butt all day to feed his child like her mother is.

It doesn't say anything about him, but that statement is pretty offensive.

It sounds like you have an ax to grind with non-custodial parents. You can't just assume that the father has nothing to do with this kid and doesn't pay support. He could very much want to be a part of the child's life, and this screwup by the mom might open the door for him to modify custody.

[Low D Flat]

Moms don't get this desperate when Dad is sending checks on the regular. A million bucks says this is a one-income household. Maybe he's dead.