On 09/16/09 12:59, Warp wrote:
>    I read that in the US there's such a huge global panic about children
> being kidnapped, that at some places it even borders the illegal to let
> children *walk* on the street alone (eg. to go to school or hobbies).
> Eg. some woman got fined because she let her kid do that.
>
>    Instead, children are always driven by car to and from wherever they
> need to go.

	I think it's mostly media exaggeration. It's fairly routine for 
children to walk/take the bus, and raises few eyebrows generally.

	As for the number, 100 is too few. In my small town of about 100,000, 
we have a bunch of cases each year. According to:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=2810#1

it's more like 250,000. The number that are reported missing is over 
750,000.

	Jeremy did raise a good point about Child Services. They can get really 
nasty, and while it's probably not the norm, ridiculous behavior on 
their part is quite well known.

-- 
Kotter: "Have you ever considered becoming a vet?"
Epstein: "Uh...Uh no. My brother Sanchez was in the army. Didn't like it 
a bit."

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