Journalist charged with "Felony Child Abandonment" for telling his 11 year old son to walk home

Two weeks ago, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram got into a rapidly escalating argument with his 11-year-old son in a McDonald's.

The confrontation made for a poignant Aug. 15 column by Dave Lieber, who wrote about angrily jumping into his car after telling the boy to walk home, a distance of "a few blocks." After cooling off, Lieber returned a short time later to find police officers interviewing his son.
<snip>
Lieber, 51, was charged with two felonies, child abandonment with intent to return and child abandonment/endangering a child, Detective Tiffany Ward said. Lieber turned himself in to the Tarrant County Jail and was released on $4,000 bail.

Police will refer the case to the Tarrant County district attorney, who will determine whether to pursue charges. State law defines abandonment as intentionally leaving a child younger than 15 "in any place under circumstances that expose the child to an unreasonable risk of harm."
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http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/28/0828abandon.html

It doesn't say how far he had to walk. Nobody wants a kid endangered. However, this seems extreme.
:shrug:

She kicked her 10 year old kid out of the car for acting obnoxious and told him to walk home and a cop threatened to arrest her. End of story, she did not back down, cop did. Absolutely ridiculous!

People can't punish their children anymore.

forced to walk or bike to school. No wonder so many parents are content to allow them to stay in and play video games - no sense risking the prison sentence.

That said, there is, unfortunately, no test of maturity for procreation. But if being an asshole is now a felony....

That is not a punishment I would use on my child but I am guilty of child abandonment I guess cause my son was walking home from 4th grade.

After we had practiced the route, practiced safety skills, and he proved to me that he was responsible enough, he has the chance to be a big boy and walk home after school.

I guess everyone has their own methods. Police involvement though? Man, when my dad was a kid, he and his buddies would take their .22lrs and go out shooting and hunting. When I was young I walked to and from school from kindergarten. Now I can't have my son walk home without the police getting involved?

We are not failing as a nation because of outside influences and oil barons. We are failing because we have created a nation of young people who are growing up with no sense of self reliance, a sense that in order for life to be good it has to be easy, and where parents do not use common sense on how to instill those values into the future generation. None of this applies to any of us DU members though right?

It won't be getting better only worse according to history.

Especially if the dad didn't leave the kid enough money to order any of the food there.

:shrug:

When I was 11, I was all over the place by myself and this was in INNER CITY DETROIT.

Jeezus

:toast:

I'm speechless

my mother told me to ride my bike home 3 miles during a tornado warning once. I guess I could have sued her.

riding the bus 3 miles, getting off and walking 4 blocks to my Catholic school. I also walked the 6 blocks to our local 7-11, rode my bike to the grocery store for my mother when necessary....

stooopid.

We were nowhere near home, either, and I wouldn't have put it past him to make good on that threat (even if it was just leave me by the side of the road and come back a little later). This person gets no sympathy from me at all. :eyes:

Having to resort to threats of abandonment because you get into an argument with your kid is poor parenting.

Edit to add: There is a world of difference between making your kid walk somewhere and unexpectedly abandoning him somewhere. The point isn't that the father was making his son walk - as so many seem to think - the point was that he was using the threat of abandonment as a weapon!!! I'm not opposed to making kids walk places, but hanging abandonment as punishment over a kid's head is inexcusable, no matter how pissed off you are.

...first, there is a world of difference between a 6-year-old and an 11-year old. Second, in your case you were nowhere near home, while in this case, they were a few blocks from home, and there is every indication that the child knew his way home. They were eating breakfast in a suburb with a low crime rate, according to the article -- so it was also broad daylight. So sure, if you think that any time a parent blows up at their kid they are a bad parent, well okay then. Personally, I'm sure I wasn't perfect. Citing him for child abandonment, that seems over the top to me.

and the fine was a bit much. But I'm appalled at the attitude that this is an acceptable punishment for a misbehaving youngster. And I don't think if a parent blows up at their kid, they're a bad parent. No one's perfect. But this guy did more than blow up - he blew up and left the kid in the parking lot.

When I was 11 my family allowed me to walk to and from school alone. The school was only a few blocks away, but it seems possible that if it was being done today my family would be arrested and charged with a crime. Unless this kid had a long way to walk, which it seems he did not, his father should not have gotten in trouble.

done in anger to a "child" under supervision of an adult(?). Because of the age and distance issues, this may not have amounted to a felony, but that parent should take some parenting and anger management sessions.

You know, I once got out the suitcase and packed my bags at about age 10; my Mom laughed in my face and wanted to know how far I thought I'd get. I will never forget the sudden realization of powerlessness in the world outside the four-walls of home (or inside it, either). Later, they made it plain that once I left, I could NEVER come back on a residential basis. They wanted no part of babysitting the grandkids either, even during a period of family hardship, so I never had the ease to explore life's opportunities that Michelle Obama, our next First Lady, felt knowing that her kids were in the next best set of hands to their own.

Last week, my adult SIL pulled that crap on my daughter; she had a full-blown panic attack and called her parents for help. Of course, we stepped in and now neither one is speaking to us. Sweet, huh.

So, it's not clear just what your kids will learn about "personal responsibility" and going it alone.

I think the kid did just fine by calling out for assistance. In retrospect, it's probably what my daughter should have done too. It should teach Dad and all bullies an expensive lesson about arguing in the car and in public where escalation can become deadly very fast.