A Virginia mother has been criminally convicted after allowing her five-year-old son to walk by himself a short distance through their gated neighborhood.
Karyann Parkinson, a 36-year-old mother of five, was found guilty last week of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a Class 1 misdemeanor under Virginia law that can carry a sentence of up to 12 months in jail.
Although the judge imposed a six-month jail term, the sentence was suspended. Parkinson was also added to Virginia’s child abuse and neglect registry, where her name is set to remain for the next seven years.
The case stems from Parkinson’s decision to let her son, Sam, walk without an adult to a pond inside their gated community so he could collect goose feathers, an activity he loves, she told Reason.
The incident happened on a June morning, shortly after Parkinson and Sam had come home from a bike ride during which they had stopped for him to gather feathers. Once back at the house, the child asked if he could return to the pond to collect a few more.
Parkinson didn’t see a problem with it and told him yes. She told Reason that the walk to the pond is short, along a sidewalk 10 feet from the road separated by grass in their affluent community in Williamsburg.
The gated community, called Ford’s Colony, has 24-hour security, a 25mph speed limit and three golf courses, Parkinson said, and Sam would have had to go through just two crosswalks, which she had seen him do safely many times.
But as the five-year-old made his way, a passerby saw him and became concerned, so they alerted the gated community’s security.
Karyann Parkinson, a 35-year-old mother of five, was convicted last week of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and given a suspended six-month sentence
Parkinson had allowed her five-year-old son, Sam, to go unsupervised to a pond in their gated Williamsburg, Virginia, community so he could pick up goose feathers
A guard escorted Sam home and scolded the boy’s mother. She told Reason that she was irritated and asked the guard where in the homeowner’s association rules it said a child could not walk on their own.
Parkinson also said she was upset because Sam said that the guard told him his mom had done something wrong and that bad people would want to take him if he was alone. ‘This scared the cr** out of him,’ she told Reason.
Things quickly escalated as the guard said it was illegal for Parkinson to leave her son unsupervised, and he called the police.
An officer arrived, but Parkinson said, ‘I don’t have any interest in talking to you,’ the mom told Reason. The officer then called for backup, and two more officers arrived. The police also alerted Child Protective Services (CPS).
The mom called her husband, Dallin, and told him to come home. He recalled telling police and CPS personnel: ‘Kids need to be able to take reasonable risks in order to grow up non-anxious.’
CPS replied, ‘a 5-year-old child can never be unsupervised,’ according to Dallin.
The husband and wife are no strangers to parenting. At the time of the encounter with authorities, Sam was their youngest and Parkinson was eight months pregnant with her fifth child.
She also graduated from Brigham Young University in 2012 with a degree in family science and was a family life educator who spent three years as a live-in behavioral specialist at a residential treatment center.
A passerby became concerned and alerted security when they saw Sam alone. Parkinson’s husband, Dallin, told authorities: ‘Kids need to be able to take reasonable risks’
Parkinson has extensive parenting experience and holds a degree in family science. She is pictured with one of her other children
Dallin is a marriage and family therapist, and along with his wife oversaw the care of 35 girls at the treatment center during those years.
Parkinson also spent a summer working in the law office of former Virginia State Senator Jill Vogel, who co-sponsored the Reasonable Childhood Independence bill.
The bill, passed in 2023, narrowed Virginia’s neglect laws, ‘which had been so vague and broad that parents were getting investigated simply for letting their kids walk or play outside,’ a statement from nonprofit LetGrow celebrating the bill’s passing said.
Despite that law and Parkinson’s extensive parenting experience, she was still slapped with the contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge and convicted.
CPS also found Parkinson guilty of a ‘Level 2 finding,’ which is what got her placed on the child abuse and neglect registry. She has appealed the verdict.
Parkinson told Reason she believes she was accused of her misdemeanor because authorities were looking for a way to get around the Reasonable Childhood Independence law.
Parkinson recently graduated from law school and said she is worried she will not be able to obtain her law license because of the conviction
Although she will not spend any time in prison as long as she demonstrates good behavior and complies with CPS’s conditions, Parkinson said she is worried the conviction will prevent her from volunteering at her children’s schools.
She also recently graduated from law school and is afraid that she will now be unable to obtain her law license.