Montgomery County, Maryland, police do not have to send unattended children to Child Protective Services if they do not believe neglect is involved in the case and can instead notify the parents and drive the children home, according to a newly released memo from county officials that makes it clear that police have discretion when they find children walking alone in the county.
The statement from county police and human-services officials came in answer to questions that County Council members posed about policies and procedures after a Silver Spring couple, Alexander and Danielle Meitiv, twice were investigated for neglect when police found their two young children walking home alone from a community park.
The clash between the Meitivs and Child Protective Services has intensified a national discussion about what constitutes responsible parenting and when the government should step in when children are unaccompanied. “Free-range” parents, such as the Meitivs, encourage outdoor play and independence.
In the family’s recent run-in with authorities April 12, police picked up the Meitiv children and did not take them home or call their parents. Instead, they called CPS, and the children – Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6 – remained in custody for more than five hours. Since then, many parents have asked about procedures and policies that guide such cases.
County Council President George Leventhal, Democrat, and council member Marc Elrich, Democrat, drew up a list of 16 general questions about such cases that formed the basis for the new memorandum. None of the questions or answers specifically referred to the Meitivs.
Elrich said the new information did not clarify what he sees as a core question: Under what circumstances may unsupervised young children play outside, walk to school, head to a friend’s house or go to parks? State law only addresses children in buildings, vehicles or other enclosed spaces.
“That question is not answered,” he said.
Elrich, who is chairman of the council’s public-safety committee, said it was helpful to hear that police can make judgment calls, but it left him with the sense that “there was no automatic need for this to go where they went with it.”
The six-page memorandum said police have discretion when encountering unattended children and that they consider ages and cognitive abilities as factors.
