A Routine Outing Turns Heads (Image Credits: Unsplash)
Atlanta, Georgia — Authorities dismissed neglect allegations against a local couple who allowed their 6-year-old son to ride his scooter alone to a nearby playground last fall.
A Routine Outing Turns Heads
In November, Mallerie Shirley and Christopher Pleasants watched their doorbell camera as their responsible son pedaled off on his new scooter. The playground sat just three or four blocks away, a journey of two to four minutes. Other parents had agreed to meet him there and send confirmation texts upon arrival. The boy played safely before heading home.
Trouble arose on the return leg. A woman in a passing car pulled alongside, questioned his parents’ whereabouts, and followed him after he rode on without responding. She contacted child welfare officials, setting off a chain of events that reached the family’s doorstep two days later.
Child Services Steps In
Fulton County Division of Family and Children Services investigators arrived unannounced. They informed the parents of an official probe into potential neglect and required them to sign a safety plan mandating constant supervision for their children. The family cooperated fully, stunned by the turn…