Free-Range Kids

A New Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Protect Free-Range Parenting and Redefine Neglect

Lawmakers cite examples of parents who were investigated for letting their kids play outside and walk to the store, among other ordinary childhood activities.

Lenore Skenazy | 5.13.2026 3:25 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Midjourney)

A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress yesterday pushes states to "promote childhood independence" rather than investigate or punish the parents who permit it.

The bill lists seven examples of decent parents investigated for letting their kids play outside, bike, walk to the store, etc. Five of these stories were first reported in Reason.

Reps. Blake Moore (R–Utah), Janet McClellan (D–Va.), and Virginia Foxx (R–N.C.) are cosponsoring the "Promoting Childhood Independence and Resilience Act."

"I want my kids to go exploring without it being just every minute planned for them," says Moore, a father of four. No parent, he adds, should be investigated for letting their kids do that.

Rep. McClellan agreed: "Our parents would have been in jail," she says, recalling her Gen X childhood.

In 2023 McClellan was instrumental in getting Virginia to pass its own Reasonable Childhood Independence bill. As lawmakers there noted: Some parents choose to let their kids roam free, but others, especially those financially strapped, have no choice. Letting your kid come home with a latchkey while you're working your second shift isn't neglect, but it can certainly be a result of poverty.

Virginia is one of 13 states to date where Let Grow, the nonprofit I helm, has helped to pass such a law, usually with........

© Reason.com