no they don't. we don't need them telling us when our children are responsible enough for particular tasks. When our first reaction is "is this illegal" we've gone too far. When bad laws influence good parents, its wrong and needs to be repealed immediately.
The first reaction a parent should have to "I might leave my child at home for a few hours" absolutely should be "is it safe?"
CPS is not there for parents who know how to assess risk. They exist for parents who by definition are bad parents. Those parents need simplistic advice, with the threat of legal action. The fact that CPS overstepped their bounds in a few cases is bad, and needs to stop, but it doesn't change the fact that the advice needs to be clear and simple.
And government totally should be trying to influence parents. I guarantee that their are some kind loving parents reading HN right now who do not have working tested fitted smoke detectors. Government here should be playing persuasive adverts; subsidising the costs of smoke detectors; providing assistance to fit those detectors; regulating the manufacture of detectors so we know they work.
The thing that has annoyed me about the discussions of these cases is that people are only talking about the disruption to this family's life. The real outrage is CPS wasting time on non abusive parents when so many children are raped and murdered. An estimate 1600 children died as a rssult of abuse or neglect from a primary care giver in 2012; that doesn't count murders by other family members.
I fully stand by my comment that the home is a dangerous place for children. Home is where children are murdered by family members; physically, sexually or emotionally abused by family members (and siblings are the greatest risk of being the abuser); most accidents happen in the home. Children can't get jobs; can't vote; are not held criminally responsible for their actions[1] -- so parents should be thinking carefully before they leave children alone in the house.
> ...government totally should be trying to influence parents. I guarantee that their are some kind loving parents reading HN right now who do not have working tested fitted smoke detectors. Government here should be playing persuasive adverts; subsidising the costs of smoke detectors; providing assistance to fit those detectors; regulating the manufacture of detectors so we know they work.
Wow, so nobody wants the government reading our phone metadata, but its no big deal if they tell us how to raise our kids? Are you kidding me? "You can't have my privacy, but I'm OK with you taking my freedom." Really?
> Home is where children are murdered by family members; physically, sexually or emotionally abused by family members (and siblings are the greatest risk of being the abuser); most accidents happen in the home.
Most accidents would happen where one spends the majority of their time. One in three car accidents happen within one mile from home [0]. Your statement says a lot of nothing.
