The search system is borked, so I can't determine if this has already been diaried.
To read about an incredible controversy that has just gone white-hot, Google "free-range children."
Here's a link to a Washington Post article about the key incident:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Here is the lede:
A familiar debate over how much freedom parents should give their children ignited Monday with the news that a Montgomery County couple had, once again, tangled with Child Protective Services for allowing their youngsters to take a walk on their own.A couple of months after Danielle and Alexander Meitiv were found responsible for “unsubstantiated neglect” for letting Rafi, 10, and Dvora, 6, walk home from a park close to where they live in downtown Silver Spring, they gave the children permission to do it again.
Responding to a call from a citizen, police collected the children and took them to CPS in Montgomery where, 5 1/2 anxious hours later, they were reunited with their parents.