CPS investigated her 4 times because she let her kids play outside

That said though, it's easy to imagine how quickly things could become problematic if some busybody decided they wanted to make trouble. You do not want CPS involved with your family - full stop.

I don't really know what the right thing to do is if you do have CPS show up - at first blush it seems like a "never talk to the police" type of situation where hypothetically the right play is to absolutely refuse to play ball and involve a lawyer immediately.

It's a whole can of worms to take that stand though. Do you just let Umbridge into your house and hope that the quick look around is enough to close the case? Or do you recognize you're dealing with an Umbridge and not take the chance?

That kind of tough call for parents probably does mean that the right play is to try to ensure your state has reasonable legislation about these sorts of things.

(what a drag!)

This must be a mistake from the CPS agent, surely? For one, it's obviously absurd (you'd get a CPS call if they found out you were "supervising" your 12 year old in the bathroom or while changing), but secondly (and I might be mistaken), in most places I've looked at/known people/lived in, you are allowed to privately babysit at the age of 12.

In any case, this whole thing is a bit too rage-inducing for a Monday morning read.

At that point I'd be approaching both the police and this 'social worker's' employer and complaining about her threatening my children.

I saw an article floating around about a couple that were prosecuted for letting their child cross a street alone to go to a store, but it was actually a highway and one of their other kids had died on that highway a few years ago.

Having been involved in the foster care system before, I can tell you, no parent believes they were doing anything wrong, ever. They almost all exclusively believe they were being unfairly targeted for past transgressions or unfair accusations. That happens, but given how everyone says that, it's not a good signal.

Yes, this may not be the case in this article, or even in most cases, but it is something to consider about human nature.

Parents these days are fearful to an unhealthy degree to begin with, but having to deal with CPS, who may subject you to repeated visits and bureaucratic reports or at worst take your kids away, is making the parents have even more fear of giving kids the slightest independence or hint of a real childhood.

Remember if CPS shows up at your door, you don’t need to talk to them. You can tell them firmly to get off your property and to not return. If they insist, record them, tell them to identify themselves with ID, tell them they’re trespassing and you’ll press charges, and to leave. They have no legal right to be there or speak to you without a warrant and a police officer. The point of them making you talk to them is so they can make a big deal out of SOMETHING you say or SOMETHING they see so they can do paperwork that justifies their ability to invade your life. Don’t let them. There are videos on YouTube about how to deal with them.

As a former foster parent, I was appaled and disgusted by how CPS works and how every social worker, guardian ad litem, law enforcement officer seemed more obsessed with maintaining a slow moving cash cow bureaucracy than actually building a system that helps kids.

They then use "but we are helping kids get out of horrible situations" as a shield to avoid any scrutnity or condemnation of the inefficient, ineffective leviathian of greed they participate in.

To the point there are stand up comedians talking about remembering being kids during the 70's and 80's.

Now im in my mid 30s and have my third daughter on the way. I would never let my kids go play outside in the front yard unsupervised, just for the simple fact that I don't want them getting hit by a car, the oldest is 6, and understands things, but still, that just seems neglectful.

It could be because they are girls, and im more protective, but I also just generally gauge a Childs "readiness", and I don't know many 6 year olds that I would be comfortable going to explore my neighborhood without some form of supervision.

I also generally despise the use of CPS in this way, but from what I gather, this lady seems like a pain in the a*, and her neighbors clearly do not like her, for whatever reason it is. It doesn't mean they should get CPS involved, but it's honestly shocking that this lady would continue to live in a place like this, it's pretty unreal actually.

Not sure what to make of all of this, and it reads like a very one sided piece, would be interesting to hear all the other drama that led to all of this transpiring.

On the other hand, it is plausible that the parents were actually negligent and the kids were outside totally unsupervised, and the neighbors tried to find someone watching over the kids before calling the police. I would normally not be suspicious, but statements like, "the next door neighbors were okay with our kids playing in their yards" and, "of course my child is allowed to climb the stairs" feel a little off. Yes, neighbors will often say it is okay for kids to be on their lawns but there is usually an understanding that the parents are aware of what's going on. And it's easy to say that you allow your kids to climb the stairs, but the child in question was less than a year old. I don't know of a parent who wouldn't at least be watching over them on the front porch.

So I don't know where I land here. This story, even if true, sounds like a bad parent trying to pass this off as intrusive neighbors and government overreach. Kids can and should be allowed to roam, but there should be some appropriate limits. I experienced this first-hand as a kid. My parents were great and we had awesome families on our street. Most of the time we just roamed to various houses on the street and the parents all knew each other and it was fine. Once we rode our bikes to another town and had to ask a stranger to use their phone because we got lost- this was probably not okay, but our parents picked us up and things turned out okay. But notably, we did not get CPS called on us multiple times.