Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Limit Child Neglect Investigations for Unsupervised Children

A bipartisan bill titled the Promoting Childhood Independence and Resilience Act was introduced in Congress on May 12, 2026. The measure pushes states to promote childhood independence rather than investigate or punish parents who permit it. It provides a framework for states to distinguish ordinary childhood activities from actual neglect or abuse.

Rep. Blake Moore (R–Utah), Rep. ) and Rep. ) are cosponsors. " He added that no parent should be investigated for letting their kids explore without every minute planned. " In 2023 she was instrumental in getting Virginia to pass its own Reasonable Childhood Independence bill.

Virginia is one of 13 states where Let Grow, a nonprofit, has helped pass a Reasonable Childhood Independence law. The bill lists seven examples of parents investigated for letting their kids play outside, bike, or walk to the store. Five of the seven parent investigation stories listed in the bill were first reported in Reason.

Reason reported that the new national legislation tasks state child protective agencies with encouraging rather than investigating childhood independence. Diane Redleaf, Let Grow's legal consultant, said many states still operate under laws and policies that give governmental authorities discretion to tell parents they cannot allow their kids to be unattended, on pain of investigation for neglect or threatened family separation.

One case cited in the legislative record involved Rafi Meitiv.

In 2015, when he was 10, Rafi Meitiv and his sister walked home from the park in Silver Spring, Maryland. Someone saw them unsupervised and called authorities, prompting child protective services to visit their home that night. Child protective services threatened multiple times to take the Meitiv children away in 2015.

The Meitiv children were picked up a second time for being unsupervised two blocks from their home later that year. The Meitivs were eventually cleared by authorities after the 2015 incidents. The 2015 Meitiv incidents became known as the Free-Range Parenting case.

Rafi Meitiv is now 21 and a college senior. His mother, Danielle Meitiv, had read the book Free-Range Kids before the 2015 incidents. The family's experience illustrated how rational parental decisions could be second-guessed by authorities viewing childhood solely through a lens of risk.

Warwick Cairns, author of How to Live Dangerously, calculated that a child would have to be left outside unattended for 750,000 years to be statistically likely to be kidnapped by a stranger. Kids' independence and free play have been declining for the last 50 or 60 years. One in five American kids age 3-17 has a diagnosable mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder in any given year.

It is estimated that more than one-third of all children will be the subject of a child abuse investigation before age 18. 002 percent of children died of abuse or neglect.

Reason reported that authorities appear to be searching for a statistical needle in a haystack while social norms have shifted toward leaving no child unsupervised. Indiana passed a Reasonable Childhood Independence law this spring with sponsors Rep. Victoria Garcia-Wilburn (D–Fishers) and Rep.

Jake Teshka (R–North Liberty). The vote was unanimous. Indiana State Rep. Victoria Garcia-Wilburn said her neighbor yelled, "Get your kids under control! " She said the neighbor later apologized a few months after the incident.

If enacted, the Promoting Childhood Independence and Resilience Act would require state agencies to train employees to encourage childhood independence. The legislation builds on momentum from 13 states that have already adopted similar measures, often with broad bipartisan support.