Mother Labeled Child Abuser, Threatened With 6-Month Sentence For Letting Her Kid Play Outside
A mother of five was placed on a child abuse and neglect registry and threatened with a jail sentence after being convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for letting her 5-year-old son walk to a pond by himself in their gated community, a report shows.
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The mother, Karyann Parkinson, had been living in Williamsburg, Virginia, with her husband so that she could attend law school. She was pregnant with her fifth child when her son asked if he could walk the half-mile to the pond to collect goose feathers, his favorite activity, Reason reported. (RELATED: Woman Arrested Outside Lindsay Clancy Trial Over Alleged Jury Intimidation)
Parkinson believed it would be safe. Her son knew the route on the sidewalk through the gated community that was separated from the road by 10 feet of grass. He would have to cross two streets with crosswalks, but she had seen him do so safely hundreds of times before.
So, she let him go as she made him lunch, Reason reported.
Her son was spotted by a passerby who called security, who brought the boy back to his mother before chastising Parkinson and telling her son that bad people would want to take him. Soon, the security guard was joined by three police officers and two Child Protective Services (CPS) workers.
Her husband, who was out at lunch with their daughter, hurried home and told CPS that kids need to be able to take reasonable risks “in order to grow up non-anxious,” but the workers said that five-year-olds should never be unsupervised, according to Reason.
CPS would then launch an investigation into Parkinson for alleged abuse and neglect before placing her on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry for the next seven years.
The officers also charged her with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor with a sentence of up to six months. A judge convicted Parkinson last week before immediately suspending the sentence, pending good behavior and compliance with CPS’ conditions.
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“Delinquency?” the founder and executive director of ParentsUSA, David DeLugas, who offers pro bono aid in similar cases, told Reason. “Is the kid going to rob banks at 14 because he collected feathers at age 5?”
A professor and commentator at the law school which Parkinson attends, Jonathan H. Adler, said that he attended the trial and that it was “even worse than this story suggests,” adding that the judge overseeing the trial was Brian Smalls.
“Virginia actually has a free range statute that explicitly says it will not be criminal for parents to make child-specific decisions to allow independent activity provided its appropriate given the age maturity physical and mental abilities of the child,” Adler said. “The statute makes Express mention of walking to nearby places as the sort of thing anticipated. In these proceedings the only factor of the Court considered was the child’s age, as prosecution offered nothing on the other factors.”
“It is my understanding she plans an appeal, and is being supported by the author of the statutory language,” Adler added, as Reson reported that she had previously interned for the former Repubican Virginia state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel who had co-sponsored the commonwealth’s 2022 childhood independence law.
Parkinson fears that the conviction and registration could hurt her involvement in her kids’ schooling and her chance to practice law.
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