A mom was arrested because her 10-year-old son walked less than 1 mile to town on his own in a small town in Georgia. The government says that they will not prosecute her if she agrees to track her son at all times on an app.
A nosy neighbor called the police and police arrested and carted Brittany Patterson off to jail in front of her children. They say that they will not press charges if she signs a “safety plan.”
The plan requires Patterson to designate a “safety person” to be a “knowing participant and guardian” and watch over the children whenever she leaves home as well as requires him to track him on an app at all times. She refused because she wanted him to have age-appropriate freedom.
Patterson contacted a lawyer from ParentsUSA, a nonprofit that often provides pro bono legal help to parents wrongly arrested and prosecuted for child neglect. Legal counsel David DeLugas called the assistant district attorney (ADA) and was told that all criminal charges would be dropped if Patterson signs the plan. They also sent the boy a birthday card in the mail a few days later.
She refuses and the case is as yet unresolved. A GoFundMe has been established to help ParentsUSA cover the Pattersons’ legal expenses.
The best-selling parenting book Anxious Generation makes the point that children are “over-protected in the real world and under-protected online” and that they should not have smartphones until they are in the 8th grade. We should applaud this woman for giving her son freedom and keeping him off addictive technology, not punishing her!
