State Passes 'Free-Range Parenting' Law Because Now We Need To Have Laws To Treat Children Like Humans

State decides it's time to end forced helicopter parenting.

(Photo by John Li/Getty Images)

Utah has struck a blow for reasonable parents everywhere, by passing a law allowing parents to let their children exist without constant helicoptering. The new law refocuses child services resources toward protecting kids from true neglect and abuse, rather than chasing down kids for riding their bikes through the neighborhood without a parent running behind them like Little Mac.

We discussed this topic back in 2015 in a conversation with Matthew Dowd who represented the Meitivs, a Maryland family who successfully fought back against local authorities who accused the parents of neglect for allowing their children, then 10 and 6, to walk through the neighborhood unattended. Their story inspired, in part, Utah’s latest effort.

It’s a first-in-the-nation initiative to recognize that building strong, confident, independent adults starts with letting kids experience the world without their parents’ constant presence.

The measure, sponsored by Utah state Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R), exempts from the definition of child neglect various activities children can do without supervision, permitting “a child, whose basic needs are met and who is of sufficient age and maturity to avoid harm or unreasonable risk of harm, to engage in independent activities…”

Those activities include letting children “walk, run or bike to and from school, travel to commercial or recreational facilities, play outside and remain at home unattended.” The law does not say what the “sufficient age” is.

The vagueness of the law isn’t ideal — one suspects child services would adopt a sliding scale that routinely disadvantages minority parents — but it’s a start. In most states, child services agencies have the power to intervene when an otherwise mature child is found unattended. While many well-off white families may see themselves as “free-range parents,” the population most often targeted by “neglect” provisions are low-income, often minority families who leave children alone out of economic necessity earlier than many suburban parents deem acceptable. A 9-year-old playing in a public park while her mom works becomes an opportunity to break up family that wouldn’t arise for a family with two nannies in gated community. “Sufficient age” may not solve this problem entirely, but it sets a guiding principle that should temper frivolous enforcement.

Sadly other states haven’t shown the reasonability of Utah. Arkansas attempted to pass a bill like this last year, but was unable to get it out of committee over abduction fears, even though kidnappings are actually rarer than in previous decades and the constant developmental retardation of helicoptering can’t entirely account for that number.

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Good for Utah! After all, if your state thinks 15 is a perfectly acceptable age for marriage, it can probably cut an 11-year-old some slack to walk to school alone.

Utah’s ‘free-range parenting’ law said to be first in the nation [Washington Post]


HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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