“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.)”
Looks like Georgia DOES have a “Reasonable Childhood Independence” law…
So cops are ignorant or just don’t care?
This is my third time coming across this topic today. I was waiting for additional information, but I wonder if there is any history there. Maybe the sheriff has been feuding with the family for a while and wanted to use this as an opportunity to exert dominance. Maybe they suspect the kid has truly been causing trouble and so are using this as an opportunity to track the kid and see.
Overall, seems like an overreaction, especially in small town USA.
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.
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?
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)_/¯
At 6 I was taking transit. With my older sister who was 11.
When I lived in San Diego I literally took the city bus to school. And so did a lot of other students (not just at my school). There were times the drivers didn’t know the stops so I’d have to tell them they passed it.
But conservatives are terrified of their neighbors, for some reason. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Can’t blame them. Most conservatives in the USA are unstable, gun wielding nuts.
You see, that’s because New York is a safe neighborhood. But that small ass town in Georgia? Full of unimaginable terrors. Most of them wear uniform.
or do the cops just get to “use their own judgement”?
ding ding ding ding ding
We have a winner.
Often enough even we didn’t know where we were going. Or where we were. Some creek, forest, who knows. We’d go home once hungry.
If you think Republicans aren’t the party of surveillance and authoritarianism then you must have never looked at any policy ever written by one.
If I already didn’t wish to bring kids into this world this would’ve pushed me there. Holy 🤬.
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.
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.
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.
The article says she’s married, but the husband works out of state.
Thanks, guess I missed that. No man for the LE to deal with, so they can flex. And no man there to raise the child other than the elderly, so it hurts their “family values”.
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.
All this over a fucking mile? Holy shit.
Software neutrality MUST become a constitutional right. I will never install your proprietary subcontracted stalkerware garbage and you never never have a right to extort me onto some stalkerware platform of any kind. My device is like my home. I have a right as a citizen in a democracy to lock my doors and bar anyone I choose from entry.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s
Lol
Uh… If this were a legitimate abuse scenario (it isn’t), they could come check up on your home too.
There are also things called search warrants.
I’m well aware. Child Services is a criminal organisation that should be loathed by everyone. Every agent there is incentivised through commission to exploit the parties involved. They are worse than the police in atrocities and terrorism.
Forcing someone to use an OS, platform, or app is placing something like Google or Amazon into a position as your judge/cop entering your home. It is more like forcing you to house them and their thousands of stalker business partners to collect data to manipulate and exploit you. It may sound very tin foil hat at first. I understand that people do not keep up with digital progress and change. Think about how often the internet is your primary source of information. There are only 2 web crawlers Google’s and Microsoft’s. There are no others that are relevant or useful any more. All search engines query one of these two databases either directly or through their API. This is the major massive information bottleneck of concern. If you follow so far, here is the kicker, your search results are not deterministic. Two people searching for the exact same thing on two different devices at the same time, will get different results. The information you see is biased and cherry picked. This is why the data has been collected. That data is a fundamental part of your person. It is bought and sold to manipulate you in the present age. This is a coup against democracy. Back in the first 3 years of primary school you should have learned the 3 pillars of democracy: Legislative, Judicial, and the free Press for a well informed public. There are 6 entities in control of all news media and all are owned by billionaires with anti democratic agendas. The internet is the last refuge of real democracy of any kind. This is the fundamental reason it matters and why free software matters. This is actually the front line of the fight to have any form of free information and democratic right of autonomy. The moment this last refuge is snuffed out, the entire house of cards will fall and the neo dark ages will truly begin. This mirrors the history of feudalism 1:1. Anyone asking you to trust them on this level is looking to enslave you. That is the endgame of this issue. The goal is not to make you a slave in name. The goal is to alter the meaning of the word citizen to cause the term to be functionally interchangeable.
Europeans who’s children go to school alone at 6 would be laughing their ass off if this wasn’t such outrageous bs
There are cities all over the U.S. where American children walk to school alone.
And in this case, it wasn’t even a city. Just a town of 370!
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The State requires Adults to be responsible for Children until they are at the end of the age of Legal custody, these ages vary, but it’s usually 18 years old
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It it very difficult for The State to determine which activities done without Adult supervision are safe for children, I mean, just look at the Catholic Church
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The State is a hammer, everything it sees is a nail
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These dumb fucks should come out where I live. Little kids younger than that walking much farther than that to school alone.
Because we’re fucking normal here.
You don’t want the Dutch scenario to happen. Children as young as 6 are joining bike gangs that hog half the trail width and don’t bother to step down in pedestrian zones!
The absolute state of the U.S. A thousand years of shame would not be enough
Huh? What the actual fuck?
The other side of the coin is when kids are legitimately getting abused and it gets brushed off as a kid “acting out”.
America, fuck yeah!
