The Maryland couple who allow their "free range" children to play and walk outside without adult supervision continue experiencing the mighty hand of government. This time, police picked up the children when a concerned citizen called after seeing them alone at a park. After hours of sitting inside a police cruiser, the children were eventually dropped off at Child Protective Services, which then detained them for several more hours before the parents were contacted.
The trouble for the family began back in December when the home of Alexander and Danielle Meitiv was visited by six police officers, along with CPS, who entered without a warrant and began an investigation into the safety of their children. The police had just picked up the children, 10 and six, as they walked home from a nearby park. During the initial search and interview, CPS threatened to take the children from the home unless they signed a "temporary safety plan."
After a few months of the investigation, the Montgomery County CPS found the Meitivs guilty of "unsubstantiated" child neglect and opened a file on them to remain so for the next five years.
On Sunday evening, the nightmare started all over again.
Around 4 p.m., the Meitivs dropped off their children at the park and expected them to be home two hours later. By 6:30 p.m. the children were not home and they began frantically searching for them. It wasn't until 8 p.m. that the Meitivs were contacted by CPS informing them that the children had been taken into custody.
Mrs. Meitiv posted an emotional message to Facebook Sunday evening:
I AM AT MONTGOMERY COUNTY CPS BECAUSE THE POLICE PICKED UP RAFI & DVORA AND DIDNT BRING THEM HOME!!!!!! WE HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE KIDS FOR HOURS AND HAVE BEEN HERE at CPS FOR 30 MINUTES AND THEY STILL HAVENT LET US SEE OR TALK TO THE KIDS!!!!!!
At 10:30 p.m., the Meitivs were reunited with their children but would only allow them to go home after CPS forced them to sign another safety plan.
A follow up Facebook message was posted after the ordeal was over:
The police coerced our children into the back of a patrol car, telling them they would drive them home. They kept the kids trapped there for three hours, without notifying us, before dropping them at the Crisis Center, and holding them there without dinner for another two and a half hours. We finally got home at 11pm and the kids slept in our room because we were all exhausted and terrified.
In a WUSA9 report (below), Mrs. Meitiv said, "I can't believe we're going through this again." The father indicated that when he asked why the children weren't brought home first, the officers told him that the safety of the children was more important.
A reporter asked if they are going to continue allowing their children to play unattended. Mrs. Meitiv responded:
They made us sign a safety plan that says that we will not leave them unattended at all until they will follow up. And I'm not going to risk my kids being snatched again like this by CPS.
"If they had let our kids go home, they would have been in bed two hours ago," Mrs. Meitiv added.
The 10-year-old boy can be seen in the video explaining how the police who picked them up promised to drop them off at their home, only blocks away, but instead dropped them off at CPS.
A Facebook message posted Monday indicates that the family's attorney has been notified and a statement will soon be released regarding how they plan on proceeding.
The Meitivs are vocal proponents for free-range parenting and teaching independence to children. They often find themselves asking, "When did Americans decide that allowing our kids to be out of sight was a crime?"
H/T The Blaze
