Illinois Mom Investigated For Letting Her 8-Year-Old Walk Their Dog Alone

Brittany M. Hughes | August 23, 2018
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I’m all for keeping kids safe in an increasingly unsafe world, but this takes the idea of child protective services about 10 kid-leash lengths too far.

Wilmette law enforcement found time to investigate a local mom for letting her eight-year-old daughter walk their dog around the block.

Corey Widen, of Wilmette, Illinois, said police showed up at her door after an anonymous caller reported her for letting her daughter walk their Maltese puppy, Marshmallow, around the block by herself – a route Widen says she can see from her house. She said police then talked to her children, other family members and their pediatrician, ultimately spending a solid two weeks investigating the "incident" before finally deciding to drop it. 

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Widen, who asked that her daughter’s name not be used, said the girl’s walk around the block — most of which Widen says she can see out her windows — is the only time her home-schooled daughter is unsupervised. “The funny thing is … I’m a joke with my friends because my kids are around me all the time.”

Widen now says she and her family are stressed out and nervous after their family's ordeal. And she's not the only one.

“Mothers in the Chicago area and across the country have found themselves at the center of investigations by police or child welfare officials after their children were spotted alone but unharmed — playing in parks or left for minutes in a car parked outside a store — activities that could pass for typical or harmless but now are perceived by some as unacceptable,” the Tribune adds, noting several stories of local moms who’ve actually been charged with crimes for things like leaving their kids in the locked car on a cool day to run into the store.

(Cover Photo: Matty Ring)

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