On October 30, 2024, Brittany Patterson, a Georgia mom of four, was handcuffed in front of her children and driven to the police station in Fannin County. She was then fingerprinted, photographed, and dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Her crime? Allowing her son to walk alone.
Earlier that day, Patterson drove her eldest son to a medical appointment. Her youngest son, 11-year-old, Soren, intended to come along but wasn’t around when it was time to leave. Patterson figured he was outside, playing in the woods or at his grandma’s house (who lives just two minutes away).
“I figured he was in the woods, or at grandma’s house,” says Patterson, who lives on 16 acres with her kids and her father.
Unfortunately, Soren was not playing in the woods or hanging with grandma. Instead, he had decided to walk to downtown Mineral Bluff, which is just under a mile from his house.
As he was walking alongside the road, a woman stopped to ask if he was okay. He replied that he was, in fact, okay.
Despite his assurance, the woman called the police.
A sheriff picked up the boy and called Patterson.
“She asked me if I knew he was downtown and I said no,” Patterson told Reason Magazine.
Patterson was upset that Soren had gone to town without letting anyone know but says there was hardly reason to worry.
“I was not panicking as I know the roads and know he is mature enough to walk there without incident,” she said before noting that while she thought he was safe, the sheriff wasn’t so sure.
“She kept mentioning how he could have been run over, or kidnapped, or ‘anything’ could have happened,” recalled Patterson.
The sheriff drove Soren home and left him with his grandfather. After returning to the house, Patterson talked with her son and was ready to move on.
However, this situation was far from over because the sheriff returned with another officer that same night. Patterson was handcuffed in front of her kids and hauled off to jail.
She was completely stunned by the aftermath of this miscommunication, noting that her parenting style was a bit different than others.
“The mentality here is more Free-Range,” she said.
Patterson was soon released on a $500 bail. The next day, a case manager from the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) came out for a home visit and even went to interview Patterson’s oldest son at his school. The case manager told Patterson that everything seemed fine.
A few days later, DFCS presented Patterson with a “safety plan” for her to sign. It would require her to delegate a “safety person” to be a “knowing participant and guardian” and watch over the children whenever she leaves home. The plan would also require Patterson to download an app onto her son’s phone allowing for his location to be monitored.
Patterson did not agree with these stipulations, especially tracking her son.
Recalling a similar case, she contacted attorney David DeLugas. DeLugas is the head of ParentsUSA, a nonprofit that often provides pro bono legal help to parents wrongly arrested and prosecuted for child neglect. A GoFundMe has been established to help ParentsUSA cover the Pattersons’ legal expenses.
As Patterson’s counsel, DeLugas called the assistant district attorney and was told that if Patterson would sign the safety plan, the criminal charges would be dropped.
According to Reason, DeLugas responded that if Patterson had to sign a safety plan simply because her son walked someplace without her knowing his exact location, it would stop him from visiting friends or having any independence whatsoever. However, the ADA maintained that Soren had been in danger, and thus a safety plan was necessary.
Now, she’s refusing to sign the safety plan and facing a slew of other consequences from the law, including prosecution.
The matter was left unsettled.
If the state does prosecute, Patterson could face a reckless conduct charge, a $1,000 fine, and a year in jail.
“I will not sign,” she said.
This is far from the first time a parent (let’s be honest: it’s always the mom) has gotten in legal trouble simply for giving their kid more independence than other people deem appropriate. In 2016, a mom in Maryland was arrested for leaving her 8 and 9 year olds at home alone while she grabbed takeout. And in Manitoba, another mom was investigated by CPS for letting her three kids play unattended in their own back yard. Another mom in California was investigated for letting her 4-year-old play 150 feet away from her in a gated community.
