Texas Becomes Third State To Pass Free-Range Kids Law

HB 567 enjoyed bipartisan support, sailing through the Texas Senate unopposed, and winning the House with a vote of 143 to 5.

The statute enshrining childhood independence is part of a bigger children's services bill ensuring Texans that the state will not intervene and remove kids from their homes unless the danger is so great and so likely that it outweighs the trauma of entering the foster care system.

"Removing a child from his or her family causes immense harm to the child and should only be done when absolutely necessary," said Rep. James Frank, a Republican who was one of the bill's co-authors. This new law—"the product of years of work from stakeholders of all types and legislators of both parties," he said—gives the authorities those marching orders.

It does so because it "changes our definition of neglect," Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat, told the assembly. From now on, kids will be removed only when "they're actually in danger, and not just the possibility of danger."

This way the bill not only protects parents who want to let their kids play outside, "it also enables parents struggling to make ends meet to make childcare arrangements that make life easier rather than harder," says Diane Redleaf, Let Grow's legal consultant. In other words, it prevents poverty from being mistaken for neglect.

Andrew Brown, distinguished senior fellow for child and family policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, thinks the bill will come as a major relief to working families.

https://reason.com/2021/05/18/texas-becomes-third-state-to-pass-free-range-kids-law/?fbclid=IwAR1_vDAGJs7VkxgaeAQIpL-MevBvM6hbjuHrHC7vLCKR5HEBYqmAOE8QKsM

Unless they are encouraged to play on the nearest motorway, how can allowing your kids to play outside be considered child neglect?

Syl wrote:
Unless they are encouraged to play on the nearest motorway, how can allowing your kids to play outside be considered child neglect?

Because something bad could happen to them. Lunatics could grab them? Wolves, aliens or maybe gypsies too.


We have gone off the deep end with the fear over here.

Maddog wrote:

Syl wrote:
Unless they are encouraged to play on the nearest motorway, how can allowing your kids to play outside be considered child neglect?

Because something bad could happen to them. Lunatics could grab them? Wolves, aliens or maybe gypsies too.  


We have gone off the deep end with the fear over here.  

Over here, at least in my area, kids seldom play out anymore. The internet is partly to blame, but also, some parents encourage their kids to stay inside where they are safe from strangers, traffic, etc.
Obviously young kids have to be supervised, but gradually giving a child more freedom, so they can hone their own skills of looking after themselves, has to be good for them in the long run.