The nanny state needs a timeout.
A judge recently found Karyann Parkinson, a Virginia mom of five, guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was given a suspended jail sentence and placed on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry. She has appealed.
That charge makes it sound as if Ms. Parkinson committed a serious offense. Perhaps she told her son to steal a necklace from a store or supplied him with alcohol. Nope. She let her 5-year-old son, Sam, walk to a nearby pond to collect goose feathers.
She and Sam had been there earlier that day. It was a half a mile away. He asked to go back after they had returned home. Ms. Parkinson, who was eight-months pregnant, said that would be fine. She knew that the walking trail was set back from the road and that Sam was careful when crossing the street.
Perhaps, Ms. Parkinson lived in a dangerous neighborhood. Hardly. Her family lived in Ford’s Colony, which describes itself as a “secure, multigenerational gated community… situated on a landscape of golf courses, ponds, wetlands and woodlands in Williamsburg, Virginia.”
But someone in the neighborhood saw Sam walking alone and called security. Note: This person called security, not the police, because the neighborhood has its own private security. This wasn’t downtown Chicago.
The security guard took Sam home, although Sam refused to get in the guard’s vehicle. The security guard then expressed concerns about Ms. Parkinson’s parental choices. She didn’t take kindly to that and the security guard called the police. Ms. Parkinson refused to explain her decisions to the officer, who then called Child Protective Services. Eventually there were three police officers, two CPS workers and a security guard at her house.
The absurdity should have been obvious to one of them. Apparently, it wasn’t. Two weeks later, police brought charges against her.
What makes this worse is that Virginia is one of 13 states with a law specifically protecting reasonable childhood independence. This should have handcuffed police attempts to bring charges, but it seems as if officials were determined to punish her for refusing to genuflect before them.
Nevada doesn’t have a law protecting parents who grant their children reasonable childhood independence. When legislators return in 2027, they should change that.
Patrick Henry once stood before the leaders of Virginia and rallied his colleagues against the tyranny of the British. He famously roared, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
The stakes may not be that high in this case, but parental liberty needs to be protected.
