A Virginia mother is appealing her criminal charge and placement on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry. This followed an incident where her 5-year-old son was stopped by security while walking alone in their gated community.
Karyann Parkinson explained that her son, Sam, was walking along a neighborhood path to collect goose feathers when a security guard found him and escorted him home. Authorities, including the police and Child Protective Services, got involved. Parkinson, who was eight months pregnant, had her six-month jail sentence suspended, yet the charge persists.
She was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor, and placed on Virginia’s Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry for seven years. In a statement to ‘Fox & Friends Weekend,’ Parkinson clarified the situation, explaining that she had not sent her son to play at the pond, but simply down a familiar path that passed by it.
The case has affected Parkinson’s ability to volunteer in her son’s classroom until he is in sixth grade. She emphasized the need to avoid parenting from a place of fear. “We need to stop parenting from a place of fear and a place, you know, of obsessing over the unknown,” she stated.
Her son, Sam, was initially shaken by the incident but has since moved on. Parkinson described how she reassured him, ensuring he understood he did nothing wrong. She recounted, “He would ask me, ‘Mom, am I allowed to ride my bike to swim practice?'”
For the family, the event has become a minor issue in their past. “Now it’s just a blip on his radar,” Parkinson said, noting it’s no longer a significant part of their lives.