Dropping off your son at an amusement park, or child abandonment?

[Deb in IA]

Mom Faces Year in Jail for Leaving Child
Mom Faces Year in Jail for Leaving 11-Year-Old at Colorado Amusement Park

The Associated Press

DENVER July 20, 2004 — A woman who dropped off her 11-year-old son at an amusement park faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for violating a municipal code.
Charlotte Nadine Chavez, 28, was charged Monday with wrongs to minors under a law designed to protect children from abandonment, city officials said. The charge is similar to a ticket and is handled by the city attorney's office.

On Saturday, Chavez dropped her son off at downtown's Six Flags Elitch Gardens, where he was meeting friends. She returned to pick him up at 10 p.m. and called police about two hours later after he failed to show up.

"He's never done this before, that's why I kind of freaked out," Chavez told Denver station KCNC-TV. "I love my son. I didn't just go drop him off."

The boy had spent the night at the house of a friend's grandmother and was found at the amusement park the next day by an off-duty police officer.

Chavez was charged because investigators discovered she had left the boy unsupervised at the park several times before, Det. Virginia Lopez said. Lopez said she didn't think police had ever charged anybody under the code.

"The mother needed to be given a wake up call that you can't always dismiss adult supervision," Lopez said.

City Attorney Cole Finegan said the law does not specify at what age it would be appropriate to leave a child unsupervised. The municipal code covers minors under the age of 18.

"It's a policy to ensure that you don't have people abandoning their children or placing them in danger and that there is some accountability,' Finegan said.

 

[Cruisin]

so according to this, you could never drop your child off at the movies with friends, or at the mall or anywhere pre-teens or even teenagers tend to hang out, without always having an adult present????

 

[Pin Wizard]

Wow! I'd like to know at what age it's appropriate! Personally, I can't see dropping off an 11 year old, but what about 15, 16, 17? Where's the cutoff! Geez...I think parents had it easier in the "old days." And what about the questionable ages...12, 13, 14? I remember getting dropped off to go tobogganing at 13 or 14. No parents were there.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Originally posted by Pin Wizard
Geez...I think parents had it easier in the "old days."

My sister and I were latch key kids, no adult supervision
and no one had a problem with that.

And for the record we also turned out fine and DON'T have emotional scars for being left alone.

 

[bjgrazi]

Well they can come get me now, I drop my 12 & 15 y/o off with friends at the water park in our town. They go for a few hours and call when ready to come home. It's under a 5 minute drive from the house.

I'm such a horrible mother.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

This happened in my state. I have gone to this amusement park many times and everyone knows that is used as a babysitter for the working parents. You walk around the park during the weekdays and you will see ages from 7-16 year olds walking by themselves. I feel that ages 16 and above is fine to be by themselves without supervision because if they need to leave they can drive home, but anything younger I think is abusing the rules.

 

[Bojangles]

Originally posted by Pooh_Friend#1
I have gone to this amusement park many times and everyone knows that is used as a babysitter for the working parents.

They had the same problem at Carowinds. The parents would buy season passes and dump the kids off in the mornings.

 

[believe]

Would it also be against code to allow those younger 12, 13....17 to roam the park on their own while you are in a different section? Some parks are large enough that you may never find them again. Not sure what age I would consider safe even if I am in the park.

 

[CEDmom]

Wait a second, she says she dropped him off and then returned at 10pm to pick him up but he wasn't there and then it turns out he spent the night at the home of a friend's grandmother and was found in the park the next day. This to me means the mother didn't know where her son was for over 24hrs. Did he even go into the park? Why did he spend the night somewhere other than home when his mom came to pick him up?

I'm sorry, but I agree in this situation that it doesn't sound like this mother has a handle on her child.

We have a tragedy going on here where a 16 yo girl was murdered by the father of a school friend. Sadly, I don't think parents can ever be too cautious about where their children are and what they're doing.

 

[bananiem]

I agree with CEDmom.
Slightly OT but...When I was in college in the mid-80's I was a pool cashier. We would have kids sitting outside with their 50 cents at 8:30 in the morning when we started swimming lessons. They'd sit out there until we opened at 1:00. Sometimes a kid would have an extra 50 cents to go down to the Corner Mart and get a candy bar for lunch. Then they'd stay until 5 or 6:00. We joked at the time that we were "cheap daycare". Now that I have my own kids I wonder what would have happened if there'd been an accident. We didn't know the kids' last names or where they lived. Nine year olds would be in charge of the money for their 5 and 7 year old siblings. Sounds like the same type of thing to me.

 

[aprincessmom]

Wait a second, she says she dropped him off and then returned at 10pm to pick him up but he wasn't there and then it turns out he spent the night at the home of a friend's grandmother and was found in the park the next day. This to me means the mother didn't know where her son was for over 24hrs. Did he even go into the park? Why did he spend the night somewhere other than home when his mom came to pick him up?

That was the part that disturbed me, too, CEDMom. I don't know about anyone else but I wouldn't let an 11 year old "hang out" unsupervised until 10 PM.

 

[swanmom]

And even if you want to argue that it should be decided individually because some kids are more 'mature' than others,
clearly this one doesn't use good judgement (going, unarranged, to a friend's grandmother's and not ever calling mom!) I have to agree that this mom doesn't seem to have a great handle on her kid.