The ‘free-range’ Meitiv kids are in the news again, after being abducted (just as everyone said they would be) and subsequently languishing in the CPS hoosegow, thanks to an alert neighbor in Silver Springs, Maryland.
You may remember 10-year-old Rafi and his 6-year-old sister Dvora from an incident last December when a curtain-twitching neighbor spotted them walking home from the library – alone, and using their own legs for propulsion! This kind of carrying on is unacceptable in the Orwellian Parental Police State. Consequently, the family was dragged into court and found guilty of unsubstantiated child neglect – which is as nebulous as it sounds.
Perhaps the unsatisfying verdict last winter prompted police and Child Protective Services to pull out all the stops when the two outlaw kids were spotted two blocks from home last week. Rafi and Dvora were returning from a nearby park when a policeman pulled up and insisted that they get into his cruiser. Rafi and his sister argued that they were only two blocks from home, knew the way, and their parents were waiting, but the officer insisted.
“So we got into the car and then after sitting in the car for two and a half hours — he said, ‘okay I’ll bring you home,'” Rafi said. It was a damn dirty lie. The officer instead took the two children to CPS without notifying Danielle and Sasha, who were frantically searching for their children.
Next, the kids were whisked away to the Crisis Center, to be held for another two and one half hours. The parents were finally called at 8 pm, but not allowed to see their offspring until they were released at 10:30. The kids were – and are traumatized, and hadn’t eaten…Dinner hadn’t been offered, but justice presumably was served.
The children carry “free range” badges so neighbors know they’re not lost. Parents Sasha and Danielle Meitiv, who are scientists by profession appear to be loving, intelligent parents. The Meitivs insist that they are right in allowing their children to play in the park or walk home from school without adult supervision – but under strict guidelines, because a little responsibility and independence is valuable to their children’s development.
For some reason, the philosophy of supervised autonomy irritates some people to the point of rage and they will not rest until the Meitivs lose their children. The family has become the unwilling center of the childhood independence wars. On one side, are parents whose children’s feet never hit the ground unless they are being ferried to an appointed activity. On the other, are the few courageous parents who allow their children some autonomy.
Of course there are parents who are truly abusive and require the intervention of protective services, and we fervently hope they get the help they desperately need. However, in Silver Springs, Maryland all of the abused children are safe and protected, else the law surely would not have the time or resources to devote to the outlaw Meitivs.