“I was horrified. She was with the people I wanted her to be with. She was with people who were safe who I knew would take care of her,” said (h)er mother... “Yet they had taken her away from those people and now she was in a shelter, wherever she was with people I didn’t know.”

did not have any cause to detain any of them either. Nothing like police who put a young girl that had been perfectly safe in danger.

2 male adults. Either I or a family member would've gone with her or she wouldn't go.

You specified two male adults, and not just two adults.

Why does their gender matter? Perhaps you are assuming they are heterosexual?

eom

they're of the same gender.

Do you really think a 13 year old girl should sleep in the same hotel room as an unrelated male? Or by herself?

had to sleep in rooms without an adult present. There are safety locks on hotel rooms and that is just one reason why.

themselves. As I said, with 7 kids we always had kids without adults in some rooms.

Your situation was the exception, not the rule. We have traveled as a family and it was made very clear that an adult had to be in each room.

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/minimum-age-requirement-renting-hotel-rooms-61923.html

Young adults, particularly those 18 to 21 years old, sometimes run into difficulty with travel in the United States. Booking a hotel room may be particularly challenging, since many hotels set a minimum age requirement for guests. Laws vary significantly in other countries. Advance planning is critical to avoid disappointment at the check-in counter.

It is virtually impossible to rent a hotel room in the United States if you are under 18, the legal age of majority in all states. The two basic reasons for this are liability and contract enforcement. Contracts signed by minors are not legally enforceable, putting the hotel at risk if underage patrons do not pay. Also, hotels do not want to take legal responsibility for minors. If something should happen to a minor during the stay, the hotel could be held liable.

You're comparing apple pie to orange juice (hilarious turn of phrase from a climate thread a few days ago). Hotels are free to make their own policies; they don't necessarily all have the same policies.

Edit: DU can't do the "does not equal" sign properly.

for reasons of liability.

As pointed out, you're assuming based on nothing in the article, that they were in the same room as the girl. Who are you to tell this girl's parents who they are allowed and not allowed to trust with their child? There's a deeper pit you've stepped in here too: If these 2 men are gay, are you equating gay = pedophile? Of course I don't think that of you, but that is the corner you've inadvertently painted yourself in with your snap judgment of these parents and who they've entrusted their child to.

How about we just focus on the undeniable racism displayed by the cops and stop tut-tutting the victims?

Obviously, if they were gay they would not be a particular risk for this girl. (Why would you think I think they're gay?) But you can't tell who's a pedophile by looking at them. So I don't think any child should be going on an overnight trip alone with unrelated adults.

None of the schools my kids attended would have sent two men on an overnight trip with one 13 year old girl. When my kids went on overnight trips, there were always chaperones of both sexes and multiple children.

All that being said, I don't fault the police for checking on them, since the 13 year old was sleeping in a car with an adult at night. But I DO fault the police for not listening when they were told about the notarized letter. They should have asked to see it and that should have been the end of it.

Wasn't my intention, but be honest here: Two male dance instructors escorting a young dancer to dancing lessons with world-class dancers? Pings my gaydar and my gaydar is rather shit (and naturally no longer under warranty).

Anyway, this is all moot. Unless you intend to talk with the girl's parents, there isn't really any point to chasing each others' tail here because neither of us have any details beyond this article. I enjoy your posts too much to let this thread detract from that.

Rogue cops are not held accountable so police abuse is commonplace. As I have said many times, the recruiting process is not select the right type of personality for police work which means that it will take decades to correct this problem. It is obscene that child protective services were brought into this. Why would they even agree to be involved given the letter of guardianship. Where does the Mayor stand on this? So much for the GOP talking point that racism ended with Rosa Parks. While she was a hero that helped end segregation in America it simply meant new tactics to support racism would surface and this is a prime example of how it plays out today.

I hope that the Mayor gets involved

That happens more than we would like to think.

The police would have quickly segregated the 13-year old from the dancers and then compared stories to look for differences. It sounds like there would have been none so that should have been the end of the story. At minimum this was a case of racial profiling that then evolved into full-fledged racism. The cops thought they knew better than the mom and they should not go there.

and its going to keep costing money in legal settlement until they straighten themselves out...its actually like they kidnapped her from her guardians.

would bet they would be going wink, wink, snicker, wink.

That's a rich, stinking lawsuit, right there.