Last month, Brittany Patterson, a mother of four, was arrested. Her crime? For a short period of time, she did not know where her 10-year-old son was, and he walked less than a mile from home. According to local police, "anything could have happened." Patterson's lawyer and many parents and commentators have come to her defense as a mother who gave her son age-appropriate independence and did not neglect or endanger him. 

Lenore Skenazy broke the story at Reason, and Patterson's case sparked another national conversation about "free-range parenting." Free-range parents are not just up against other helicopter parents and anxious Karens, but now must also take on an overreaching government and a bully police state.

The Facts of the Case

According to Skenazy, the incident occurred on Oct. 30, 2024. When Patterson needed to take her eldest son to a medical appointment, she could not find her 10-year-old son, Soren, and his phone was not working when she called. The family lives on 16 acres outside Mineral Bluff, Georgia, a town of 370. The boy's grandfather lives on the property and his grandmother and other relatives are nearby. Patterson assumed he was with family or playing in the woods, which he does often, and left.

Later, Patterson received a phone call from the sheriff. It turned out Soren was not on the family's property as she assumed. Without telling his grandfather, the boy decided to walk the mile into town to the Dollar General. A woman saw Soren walking alone, became concerned, and asked him if he was okay. He responded that he was, but she called the police anyway.

When Patterson heard that her son had walked into town she said, "I was not panicking as I know the roads and know he is mature enough to walk there without incident." The sheriff argued, "he could have been run over, or kidnapped or 'anything' could have happened."

Patterson returned home, scolded her son, and assumed that was the end of the incident. Later that evening, however, the 41-year-old mother was handcuffed, put in the back of a cruiser, had her mugshot and fingerprints taken, and put in jail.