My wife and I had CPS called on us (in Texas, no less) because I had some construction leftovers inside my fence, waiting to be taken to the dump, and my neighbor was concerned that my kids would be hurt playing around it.

We were interviewed, they found there were no issues, and the case was dropped. Very stressful experience, though.

And for what? I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. We had endless fields and roads around us to explore. The only off-limits area was an abandoned hog confinement, which to be fair, absolutely could have killed us (by falling into the open trench of porcine waste) – naturally, we still went there.

I know that reeks of survivor bias, but given the length of time Homo sapiens have survived, I think it’s a reasonably safe assumption that kids, when left to their own devices, are unlikely to be seriously injured or killed. Though, that’s probably only true if they’ve been exposed to it gradually over time, and are aware of the risks.

Thanks, I needed that. In a thread full of people criticising UK law, I am very happy to have a crazy US example to make me feel better.

Reading that article, it seems that the mom was arrested because the cops wanted to. Someone called the cops for a child walking down the highway by themselves, and then the cops showed up and arrested her. Cops can arrest people for any reason practically, a lot of times because they just don't like you. I was thrown up against the back of a patrol car and searched when ordering chinese food late at night once. I don't see that she was charged by the prosecutor, or that the child was taken away.

The other link you have is neighbors that obviously dislike each other, and they told the cops the kid was in danger.

Are kids in the US even able to go to school on their own like ours still do in europe?

You don't think there is some half way point between forcing them to stay inside and letting a 4 year old, wander 40m away with no supervision.