A Virginia mother was convicted last week of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after allowing her 5-year-old son to walk alone about half a mile through their gated community to collect goose feathers near a pond.
Karyann Parkinson, a mother of five and a student at William & Mary Law School, received a six-month jail sentence that was immediately suspended on the condition that she remain on good behavior and comply with Child Protective Services requirements. She was also placed on Virginia’s child abuse and neglect registry for seven years, according to Reason.
The case stems from a June afternoon when Parkinson and her son, Sam, returned from a family bike ride. The boy asked to go back to the pond by himself to gather more feathers. The roughly half-mile route followed a sidewalk set about 10 feet from the road and included two marked crosswalks.
Parkinson, who was eight months pregnant and studying for the bar exam at the time, agreed. A passerby later contacted community security, which escorted Sam home and called police. Officers and CPS workers then arrived at the family’s house.
Parkinson’s husband, Dallin, a marriage and family therapist, told investigators that “kids need to be able to take reasonable risks, in order to grow up non-anxious.” A CPS worker responded that “a 5-year-old child can never be unsupervised.”
The agency later issued a Level 2 finding of lack of supervision, which Parkinson immediately appealed.
At trial, security personnel and police officers testified for the prosecution. A CPS worker acknowledged that Sam appeared happy and healthy.
Parkinson’s attorney, Andrew Gordon, argued that the case rested largely on the boy’s age and hypothetical dangers rather than evidence that he had actually been placed at serious risk. He said “the only real ‘evidence’ against the mom was that Sam was 5, and that, hypothetically, a host of horrible things could have happened.”
Judge Brian J. Smalls nevertheless convicted Parkinson of the first-degree misdemeanor.
The case has attracted wider attention because Virginia enacted a “reasonable childhood independence” law in 2023. The measure, which passed unanimously, provides that allowing children to engage in age-appropriate independent activities — including walking to nearby locations — does not by itself constitute neglect unless the lack of supervision is so grossly negligent that it endangers the child’s health or safety.
Parkinson had previously interned at the Institute for Justice and worked in the office of one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
David DeLugas of ParentsUSA questioned the decision to prosecute Parkinson for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
“Is the kid going to rob banks at 14 because he collected feathers at age 5?” DeLugas said.
Parkinson holds a degree in family science from Brigham Young University and previously worked as a family life educator and behavioral specialist. She said the security guard’s comments to her son “scared the crap out of him.”
She has also expressed concern that the conviction and placement on the state registry could prevent her from volunteering at her children’s schools or obtaining a law license. The family has since moved out of the Williamsburg community. For now, she’s going to have to wait and see if she can get the ruling lifted.
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