New Georgia, Florida, and Missouri laws protect parents who teach their children independence 

This summer, Georgia, Florida, and Missouri will become the latest states on a growing list to adopt laws promoting children’s freedom to engage in healthy, independent activities, such as walking to and from school or a store on their own. These laws ensure that parents can confidently grant reasonable levels of independence to their kids without fearing government intervention. 

Starting July 1, Georgia Senate Bill 110, also known as the “Reasonable Childhood Independence” bill, will go into effect. Florida’s legislature unanimously passed a similar bill, which is expected to be signed by Gov. DeSantis and go into effect this July. Missouri legislators included the same type of provisions in a consolidated child welfare-focused bill, which will go into effect in August.   

These bills establish clear exceptions to the statutory definitions of neglect and abuse in state laws, ensuring that parents cannot be penalized for allowing their children to engage in regular activities such as walking to the store, playing outdoors, or staying home alone under reasonable circumstances. State laws will still prohibit clearly harmful neglect or endangerment. However, these “reasonable childhood independence” bills reassure parents that they will not face a significant run-in with law enforcement for permitting their child to pursue healthy, independent activities.  

With the passage of these bills, Georgia, Florida, and Missouri join eight other states that have adopted “Reasonable Childhood Independence” laws. 

The aggressive policing of parents saw national attention last October when Reason first reported on a Georgia mother, Brittany Patterson, who was handcuffed in front of her children and taken to jail for reckless conduct—all because her 10-year-old son walked into town by himself while she was away taking another child to the doctor’s office. Patterson told the police (who had been called by a concerned neighbor) that she did not believe he was in an unsafe situation, as it was normal for him to be outside and engage in activities on his own in their small town of Mineral Bluff (pop. 370). Despite her assurances, the family was thrust into a legal battle in which the Department of Family and Children’s Services pressured Patterson to commit to a “safety plan” for her children that involved tracking their location using a phone app, an idea that the Georgia mom vehemently declined. 

Patterson’s story adds to an alarmingly growing list of similar encounters between parents and local authorities about what children can and cannot do without direct adult supervision. In 2020, another mother from Georgia was arrested for allowing her 14-year-old daughter to babysit her younger siblings. In 2018, yet another Georgia mother was visited by police and child protective services because her 7-year-old rode his bike home alone from swimming practice. 

Lenore Skenazy, founder of the “Free-Range Kids” movement (which advocates against helicopter parenting, arguing that it hinders children’s development), and Reason have reported on many more cases like these around the country. A 2023 study in The Journal of Pediatrics finds a steep decline in children’s independence over the last few decades and attributes increases in anxiety and depression to this trend. 

These stories and the overall ambiguous enforcement of negligence and endangerment laws have a significant chilling effect on the parents who want their children to develop independence, but never know when a call to the police from a concerned neighbor could upend their lives. The Georgia, Florida, and Missouri bills address this ambiguity directly by clearly defining what will and will not be considered negligent. 

Reason Foundation partnered with Let Grow (an organization at the forefront of the childhood independence movement), interest groups in the states, and the bills’ sponsors to communicate to lawmakers the clear benefits of this type of legislation, which passed in all three states with bipartisan support. Visit the Let Grow website to learn about the progress made and the laws still needed to promote childhood independence in each state.  

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