A Georgia mother of four is facing possible jail time after her 10-year-old son walked to a nearby town less than a mile from the family home by himself.
Brittany Patterson, 41, was taking her eldest son to a doctor's appointment around noon on October 30 when she told her younger son, Soren, who turned 11 days later, he could either join them or stay home. She waited in the car for a few minutes, then went inside and called his name. When he didn't come, she figured he was playing Xbox or running around outside on the family's 16-acre property and left to run the errand with his brother.
"I had just seen him two minutes prior, so I was not in any way worried that he was missing," Patterson told Newsweek in an interview.
Toward the end of the appointment, she received a call from the Fannin County Sheriff's Office asking if she knew Soren had walked into Mineral Bluff, a town of about 370 people less than a mile from her property. He'd decided he wanted to stop by the Dollar General store, and a concerned citizen called to report a child walking alone on the side of the road. She told them no.
"I wasn't panicking, I wasn't hysterical, because it's not far from our house, and I know the area, he knows the area," Patterson said. "It wasn't a question in my mind whether he was capable of walking to Mineral Bluff and walking back."
Police took Soren home and spoke with his grandfather, who lives with the family and was at home at the time. When Patterson arrived 15 minutes later, she told her son to ask before leaving the property while she's gone. They went about their day, thinking the ordeal was over.
Hours later, the police arrived again. Patterson was on a business call and assumed it was a routine check-in. "As soon as I asked for a moment, they immediately asked me to step outside," she said.
The officers handcuffed Patterson as her kids stood nearby. When she asked why she was being arrested, one officer replied that she'd been charged with "reckless endangerment." The charge on the arrest warrant was listed as "reckless conduct."
The warrant alleged that Patterson knowingly left the residence while her son was missing and did not report it to law enforcement, which constitutes a "gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would exercise."
She was booked into the county jail before being released shortly after on $500 bail.
"After the shock wore off, I started to get angry," Patterson said. "I had an hour and a half to sit there and think about it, and I started thinking about the impact it would have on my children, seeing their mom arrested and hauled off to jail."
She was also worried about how the community would react. "We're a small town. People are going to find out. Their friends are going to ask questions."
Since then, she says the community response has been overwhelmingly supportive as her story has made national headlines and sparked a debate over parental rights.
In terms of how she feels about the incident, she is unwavering in her stance.
"I never had a question of if I did anything wrong or not," Patterson said. "If they arrested everyone I know in this county that leaves their kids the same age as mine at home on a regular basis, they would have to build a huge jail."
The next day, on Halloween, a case worker from Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) arrived at the home to do a safety check. Patterson says the case worker interviewed the kids, her father, and some other family members before saying that everything looked good and complimenting the home.
The case manager called her again the following Tuesday, asking if they could go over a "safety plan" together.
The plan required Patterson to add location tracking to her son's phone and have a designated "safety person" watching her kids whenever she left the home. She refused to sign.
She is now working with ParentsUSA, a parental rights support group, to fight any charges the state may pursue. Patterson's attorney, David DeLugas, has served as the executive director of the organization for over a decade.
DeLugas said he spoke with the assistant district attorney, who said she would decline to press charges so long as Patterson signed the safety plan. He said no.
Throughout the conversation, the ADA maintained the road that Soren was walking on was unsafe.
"Just because it might not be something you would do or encourage or permit for your child, doesn't mean that it becomes an unreasonable risk of significant harm," DeLugas said. "Is it really protecting children when we lock up their mother?"
Patterson now faces up to a year in jail. She said she will continue to fight the charge.
English (US) ·