The Silver Spring couple who have emerged at the forefront of the “free range” parenting movement are facing just one case of child neglect after being cleared in an earlier case by Montgomery County’s Child Protective Services.
The agency brought the first neglect case against Danielle and Alexander Meitiv after the parents allowed their two children, Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6, to walk home Dec. 20 from Woodside Park, about a mile from their home. As the children made their way home alone, they were picked up by county police who informed CPS.
At the time an agency representative told Alexander Meitiv the children would be taken from the home if the parents didn’t impose a "safety plan," according to the parents.
In February, the agency found the Meitivs guilty of “unsubstantiated” child neglect, meaning there was insufficient evidence for a definitive conclusion, but there was some evidence of neglect.
However, earlier this month the agency changed its ruling after the Meitivs appealed. According to an attorney for the Meitivs, the agency has now “ruled out” neglect in the December case.
“This ruling confirms that we never exposed our children to a ‘substantial risk of harm,’ ” Danielle Meitiv said in a press statement. “Although we welcome the decision, we are concerned that CPS’s misguided policy remains intact. We fear that our family and other Maryland families will be subject to further investigations and frightening police detentions simply because our and their children have been taught how to walk safely in their neighborhood, including to and from school and local parks.”
The Meitivs still face another neglect case that stemmed from an April 12 incident, when police picked up their children near a parking garage a few blocks from their home as they were walking back from a different park in Silver Spring. That day, police and CPS officials held the children for more than five hours before releasing them to their parents.
The Meitivs are also fighting that case.
“CPS’s investigations and actions have been premised on a fundamental misapplication of the law and violate the constitutional rights of parents to raise their children as they see best,” Matthew Dowd, an attorney representing the family, said in a statement.
The Meitivs have become the face of the “free range” parenting movement—which sprung up as a backlash to the over-protective “helicopter” parenting-style. Lenore Skenazy, the writer who started the free range movement in 2008, helped publicize the Meitivs case in Reason Magazine before it became front page news in the Washington, D.C., area. Advocates of the parenting movement encourage their children to explore the world on their own to help them grow their self-confidence and self-sufficiency, according to Skenazy.
