Two "free-range" children in Maryland were taken into custody by Child Protective Services (CPS) Sunday after they were found playing unsupervised at a park.
Police responded to a call around 5 p.m.,
according to the New York Daily News, and took a 10-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister to Maryland CPS. They have since been released to their parents, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv.
The Meitivs, who are both scientists, are advocates of a philosophy known as "free-range parenting," which encourages children to be independent. In January, they were cited for neglect for letting their kids walk home from a park alone in December.
A ruling of unsubstantiated child neglect in that incident allowed CPS officials to keep a file on the Meitivs for five years. The case will be expunged if no other reports are added.
The Meitivs contend that they're teaching self-reliance and responsibility, and say the CPS investigation infringes on their rights and invades their privacy, ABC News reported.
Danielle Meitiv posted on Facebook Monday morning that police "coerced our children into the back of a patrol car, telling them they would drive them home. They kept the kids trapped there for three hours, without notifying us, before dropping them at the Crisis Center, and holding them there without dinner for another two and a half hours. We finally got home at 11 pm and the kids slept in our room because we were all exhausted and terrified," she wrote.
Other parents and Facebook commenters fell on both sides of the argument.
"I am horrified on your behalf! ... I'm sure your children who were previously secure and confident are now scared out their wits!" wrote on commenter.
"Shame on you as parents!! Your children rely on you for their safety and it was with careless regard that your children were once again not being properly tended to. ... Your children should be terrified, but not of the police that saved them from such happening but from you who put them in harms way to begin with!!!" wrote another.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.