9-Year-Old Girl Calls 911 on Parents for Making Her Clean Her Room

As kids, most of us wanted to call the police on our parents for putting us in time out or not taking us to Chuck E. Cheese's whenever we wanted. Buzz60's Mercer Morrison has the story.

More >> 9-Year-Old Girl Calls 911 on Parents for Making Her Clean Her Room

Study: Moms who use egg donors lack confidence in parenting ability

Mothers who give birth using donor eggs may react less sensitively to their babies and have a lower confidence in their parenting ability, a study says.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge found "subtle yet meaningful differences" in the ways egg donor mothers interacted with their children, compared to mothers who had children using their own eggs.

More >> Study: Moms who use egg donors lack confidence in parenting ability

Research Shows That Anyone Could Forget Kids in Hot Cars

If parents think they would never forget their child in a hot car, they should think again. It can happen to anyone.

A leading expert in cognitive neuroscience who has studied the role of memory in such tragedies has found that stresses parents face in everyday life can make these memory lapses more likely.

More >> Research Shows That Anyone Could Forget Kids in Hot Cars

Utah May Legalize Free-Range Parenting

The Utah State Legislature is reviewing a bill that would decriminalize the actions of responsible parents who let their kids walk or play outside.

If the lawmakers pass SB65, parents who want to give their kids a smidge of childhood freedom won't have to worry about a knock on the door from cops or child protective service workers second-guessing the decision to send their kids outside without a security detail.

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False alarm? Parents’ ‘discipline’ reported as child abuse

The parents of an elementary school student living in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, were taken aback when they were contacted by police for an inspection into their alleged child abuse.

A local media outlet reported Monday that the parents had raised a stick to their child for stealing from a friend and a store. The act was intended to be for discipline’s sake, but a visiting teacher who glimpsed the act thought of it as child abuse and alerted the polic

More >> False alarm? Parents’ ‘discipline’ reported as child abuse

Keep Two-Year-Old Daughter in Prison or Give Up Parental Rights, Iran Tells Jailed Mother

The government of Iran has told an imprisoned dual British-Iranian citizen that she must care for her two-year-old daughter in the notorious Evin Prison or sign away her parental rights, The Telegraph reported Thursday.


More >> Keep Two-Year-Old Daughter in Prison or Give Up Parental Rights, Iran Tells Jailed Mother

She was raised in dozens of foster homes. Can she keep her own son out of the system?

Gwen Wright needed to get to the hospital. The labor pains were radiating from deep in her gut, like pliers twisting her insides. First they were an hour apart, now every 30 minutes. She was a week past her due date, and the baby was coming.

More >> She was raised in dozens of foster homes. Can she keep her own son out of the system?

MARCUS: Parents aren’t always to blame

Somehow, it’s always the parents’ fault. We are too lax, except when we are too helicoptery. We coddle the kids too much, except when we drive them into neurotic overachievement. We are enablers. No, we are Tiger Moms. The societal urge to blame is matched only by the parental instinct to second-guess — ourselves as much as our fellow parents.

More >> MARCUS: Parents aren’t always to blame

More kids in Kentucky have parents behind bars than any other state

Imagine growing up without a parent, because that parent is in jail or prison. That is the reality for millions of children across the nation. A new Kids Count report shows Kentucky has more children with incarcerated parents than any other state.

More >> More kids in Kentucky have parents behind bars than any other state

Kids struggle with parents behind bars

A nationwide Kids Count policy report indicates an alarming trend for children across the state.

More >> Kids struggle with parents behind bars

• When Parents Go to Jail, Children Suffer

Babies switched at birth will not be returned to their biological family

Babies switched at birth will not be returned to their biological family

For three years the parents of “Girl M” and “Boy Z” had little idea they were nurturing one another’s children.

Local officials, child development experts discuss ‘free-range’ parenting

Local officials, child development experts discuss ‘free-range’ parenting

In December 2014, the Montgomery County Department of Child Protective Services investigated two Maryland parents for neglect after they let their children — aged 10 and 6 — walk home unsupervised from a park about a mile from their house.

Note: As if the experts have a right to weigh in on everything.

Policing parenting: is the Family Court going to punish you for having a drink?

Policing parenting: is the Family Court going to punish you for having a drink?

News outlets have pounced on a Family Court “order” for parents of a six-year-old boy to not smoke around the child and to limit their alcohol consumption while caring for him. Readers commented that the case represents an unacceptable “intervention by the courts into the personal space of the individual”, and that it was an attempt at “social engineering".

Aboriginal mothers kept in jail "for their own safety", family violence hearing told

Aboriginal mothers kept in jail "for their own safety", family violence hearing told

Magistrates have been forced to send Aboriginal women who were victims of family violence to jail because emergency accommodation options were so limited, the Royal Commission into Family Violence has heard.

Fears for children as research shows the average child in Wales spends just five hours a week playing outside

Fears for children as research shows the average child in Wales spends just five hours a week playing outside

Research found the average child in Wales spends just five hours a week playing outside – more than half the 12 hours a week their parents did..

Parents vow to fight ‘free range kids’ decision

Parents vow to fight ‘free range kids’ decision

The Maryland parents investigated for letting their young children walk home by themselves from a park were recently found responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect in a decision that has not fully resolved their clash with authorities over questions of parenting and children’s safety.

We Live in an Age of Irrational Parenting

We Live in an Age of Irrational Parenting

If you fancy yourself a normalish, reasonably rational parent, you probably read, with equal parts horror and fascination, about the recent travails of a Maryland couple that tried to allow their children to walk the one mile from a local park to their home in Silver Spring. They were charged by child protective services with “unsubstantiated” child neglect —  itself a near-oxymoronic and self-canceling term —  which means their case will be held on file for five years. There are many things wrong with this action, not least what it says about the excesses of parenting culture (more on this in a bit), but among the most egregious is that it runs completely contrary to the trends in child safety that have emerged in the past couple of decades. Bluntly put: It’s hard to think of a safer time and a better place than the United States of 2015 to raise children — but we act as though the opposite were true.

Should government fence in ‘free-range’ parents?

Should government fence in ‘free-range’ parents?

Child Protective Services (CPS) found a Maryland couple responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect last week for letting their children, ages 10 and 6, walk home from a park alone.

Police 'called by parents to discipline children', report finds

Police 'called by parents to discipline children', report finds

Parents are frequently calling the police to discipline their disruptive children, a report has said.

Note: Yeah, because if they do it themselves, social services will take the kids away!

‘Unsubstantiated’ child neglect finding for free-range parents

‘Unsubstantiated’ child neglect finding for free-range parents

The Maryland parents investigated for letting their young children walk home by themselves from a park were found responsible for “unsubstantiated” child neglect in a decision that has not fully resolved their clash with authorities over questions of parenting and children’s safety.