Woman Calls CPS After Seeing Kid Playing Outside, Proving Stranger Danger Is Real But It’s Your Nosy Neighbor

shutterstock_198956213__1410371140_142.196.167.223A mom was sorting her mail when she heard a knock at her front door. She opened it to see a neighbor standing there with her son. The neighbor saw her son outside, thought he was in danger because he was playing alone, and delivered him to the mom’s door step. What happens next will blow your mind.

“I whipped the door open, trying to figure out what was happening. The woman smiled. My son frowned. And as soon as the door opened he flew into the house, running as far away from the woman as he could.

“Is that your son?” she asked with a smile.

I nodded, still trying to figure out what was happening.

“He said this was his house. I brought him home.” She was wearing dark glasses. I couldn’t see her eyes, couldn’t gauge her expression.

“You brought…”

“Yes. He was all the way down there, with no adult.” She motioned to a park bench about 150 yards from my house. A bench that is visible from my front porch. A bench where he had been playing with my 8-year-old daughter, and where he decided to stay and play when she brought our dog home from the walk they’d gone on.”

So begins the story that Kari Anne Roy shared on her blog this week, Haiku Of The Day. It begins with a “concerned” neighbor delivering Roy’s six-year-old son to her door after seeing him playing outside unattended – and ends with Roy’s children being questioned by CPS.

A few minutes after the neighbor left Roy’s house, there was another knock – this time the police were at her door. The police officer asked Roy if she knew her son was playing alone outside. She asked why Roy thought it was okay for her son to play outside unsupervised. She took her ID and wrote down the names and ages of her children. Then she left without filing a report. Roy says,

“I tried to shake it off and go about the rest of the day, but I was so, so upset. Then, that night, my 6-year-old cried because he thought someone would call the police when he couldn’t fall asleep at his bedtime. We talked about how that would never happen, how this was an isolated incident, how much we love and care for each other in our family. We talked about how the neighbor thought she was doing a good thing and that it was an unfortunate misunderstanding and everything was all over now.”

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

Later that week she got a voicemail from a Child Protective Services investigator, asking her to return her call immediately. She called an attorney friend for advice, then she called the investigator back. Within an hour the investigator was at her house, questioning her children:

“Within an hour she was at the house, interviewing the kids one at a time, alone with her, while I had to sequester myself upstairs… And I understood why the process had to be that way. I didn’t like it. I DON’T like it. But I understood…

My kids reported that she asked questions about drugs and alcohol, about pornography, about how often they bathe, about fighting in the home… I understand CPS investigators have an incredibly difficult job. But the conflict I feel is immense. My children were playing outsidewithin sight of the house, and now my 6yo and 8yo and 12yo have seen their mother spoken to — multiple times — as if she, herself, was a child being reprimanded. They have all been questioned, by a stranger, about whether they’ve ever been shown movies of other people’s private parts. And no matter what I say, I can tell that they think they’ve done something wrong.

After Roy, her children and her husband were all interviewed, CPS came to the conclusion that her child was, in fact, just playing outside. She was also warned that the neighbor could call the police as many times as she wants, if she feels she is witnessing some sort of neglect. Translation – your nosy neighbor has made it so your kids are no longer safe playing outside.

I’m becoming terrified of strangers– or in this case “helpful” neighbors. With more and more stories like this one surfacing, I find myself giving people who glance at me and my family as they walk by my house the side-eye. This story is frustrating and infuriating. To think that a “concerned” neighbor can see your child playing outside and a few days later that child will be sitting in front of a CPS officer being questioned about all sorts of disturbing things is terrifying. I guess in light of all of the other recent stories about CPS swooping in to rescue kids that don’t need to be rescued — she’s lucky. Roy is the first to point out that it would be even worse if she didn’t have the privileges she does:

Do I know how lucky I am to be able to call friends who are attorneys, to be able to google my questions, to have a working phone to call the CPS investigator to get updates, to have a circle of friends I can trust to be supportive and indignant along with me? I see my privilege. I want to apologize for it. I know this has been just a taste of what others go through. Just as I have had tastes in the past of food stamps and medicaid and being at the mercy of government support. I get it, Universe, you have thrown open the floodgates of perspective. I am drowning in it.

Stranger danger is real – and it looks like your nosy neighbor. Not some creepy man jumping out of the bushes waiting to offer your kids candy.

(photo: Lolostock/ Shutterstock)

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