I didn´t know the situation in the US was quite so dystopical that kids on their own was any surprise...
For a contrast, I'm in Germany. My oldest son will go to school next year. It is considered normal to train him now to go to and from kindergarten alone. The biggest perceived danger is crossing roads.
The kid of an acquaintance uses the tram for a few stops on the way to school. The first week in first grade the mother escorted her. Then she was on her own. Not alone though. The tram is packed with kids and they look out for each other (more or less, they are still kids).
Still, we also see that congestion at schools is increasingly a problem. More and more parents seem to drop of their kids at school.
In the urban metro areas I've lived as an adult, seeing kids take transit to school alone or in groups is totally normal - admittedly from a slightly older age than your example in Germany, but definitely still grade-school kids.
In the suburbs where I grew up, it was typical for kids to ride bikes to school. There wasn't any transit other than the school district's buses, and many kids were dropped off by their parents in cars, but some degree of independence was still there. This was a middle-class suburban area outside of a major city in FL where most parents worked in two-income families.
The horror stories you hear about "helicopter parenting" in the US mostly come from wealthier exurbs where, for lack of better way to put it, there aren't any real problems... so bored homemakers micro-manage every aspect of their community and worry themselves senseless about silly things. These are often master-planned communities, often built in isolated semi-rural areas, where it is difficult to go _anywhere_ without a car, and transit aside from buses to/from school is nonexistent, so the very idea of a child even having somewhere to go or something to do without a parent escorting them there in a car is seemingly insane. It contributes a lot to the perception that kids shouldn't be alone without an adult until they turn 16, can operate a car, and then can travel safely from the confines of a vehicle. Its horrible for a whole bunch of reasons.
If you want to move to the US, there are definitely still plenty of areas where kids can a normal, independent young life - but especially in the SF Bay area, I'd be very careful about picking a town/neighborhood where such a thing is accepted. It won't be universal.
I think this is true, and I'll add the media keeps turning the crank on neurotic parents by making them think there's a child molester or serial killer waiting around every corner.
Worth making the distinction to non-US readers that exurbs might be in semi-rural areas, but they might have much different values than traditional rural (small) towns, where it's not abnormal for kids to behave as the ones in the article.
My parents even entrusted me with the care of my 4-year-old sister when I was twelve. The two of us would bicycle into town by ourselves and I would buy her candy at the local shops. Those early feelings of independence are some of my most treasured childhood memories.
Edit: All of this happened, of course, without the benefit of cell phones. I could be completely out of contact with my parents for an entire day, and that was not considered anything unusual. I can only remember one time in all those years when my parents came looking for me, and that was because a powerful storm suddenly broke out in the middle of an otherwise clear day.
As a result, you can’t really ride your bike to school and lock it up unless you’re going to walk around the building. About 80% of the training for volunteers is child molester training and school shooting/lockdown drill. It’s pretty depressimg.
It’s bizarre contrasted to my growing up in 1980s NYC. We walked to school in groups but usually alone, and the only drills were fire drills. And there was real scary shit going around in that neighborhood!
A couple of years ago, I was extremely surprised about a 16 year old who said they wouldn't go an event w/o their parents. At 16 I wouldn't have gone to an event with a parent.
That being said - kids are playing alone since like 6-7 years. Hell, I was living near the Volga river and we were allowed to go swimming with older kids when we were 5 or so. No problem, son, just make sure you're home by eight.
In a city though, kids are far more restricted. It depends on any large roads your child needs to cross, deserted areas or too populated area (like marketplaces) along the way. Still, going to and from scool alone from 9-10 years old is expected.
Also unlike the US (at least based on movies, lol) we don't have school bases. Public transport only.
Even when I was growing up 30 years ago in a not-quite-as-urban part of the country, me being alone would occasionally result in a call.
0: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-coup...
The wide authority given to CPS doesn't help either. If you come to their attention the CPS will be a terrible nuisance, waste your time in court and maybe take your kid. A lot of parents probably would give their kids more freedom if they weren't one busybody with a cell phone away from being on CPS bad list.
It's one of the many issues that comes back to people trying to exert unnecessary control over others, "you shouldn't be raising your kid that way" and so on.