These days, kids can spend a lot of time on their own.
And sometimes, without sufficient parental guidance and supervision, those kids may get into trouble.
To counteract parents who haven`t set limits for their children, governments across the country have begun stepping in.
From establishing curfew limits or fining parents for their child`s vandalism on through jailing parents for a failure to pay child support, governments are forcing parents to set guidelines for their children as well as holding parents accountable for their children`s behavior.
Consider a bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), directed at parents who evade child support by fleeing the state. If the bill passes, it will make interstate flight to avoid paying child support a federal crime, punishable by fine or prison.
According to Hyde, such laws serve to teach parents responsibility for their kids. ”Many times the government must intercede to keep people from falling through society`s cracks,” said Hyde. ”The law is a teacher and a reminder of public morality.”
In communities throughout the northwest suburbs, more and more governments are forcing parents to accept responsibility for their children and their children`s actions, whether those actions involve curfew or loitering violations or underage drinking, among others.
In Hanover Park, for example, if a child admits guilt or is found guilty of a crime, parents are notified they may be arrested and fined $25 to $500 if their child commits a second offense within a year. Six parents in the past two months have been notified of their child`s first arrest.
”Most (parents) agree that they should be responsible to know where their kids are,” said Ken Felbinger, Hanover Park police spokesman.
”Sometimes parents aren`t aware of what their kids are doing until they get caught.”
”If (parents) can`t control their kids, then they should get some help so they can,” said Hanover Park Crime Prevention Officer Carol Lussky. ”If parents aren`t going to do it on their own, we`re trying to make them (get help) or face a fine.”
Two years ago, Hoffman Estates took a zero-tolerance stance on loitering because shoppers were intimidated by large groups of teens hanging out at the Barrington Square Mall. Since then, between 30 and 40 teens monthly are arrested for loitering during the summer, according to Village Attorney Richard Williams.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which disagrees with such governmental intervention in parenting, views such laws as ”unjustifiable government intrusion on the rights of children, young people and on parents`
rights to control and direct the movement of their children,” said ACLU spokeswoman Valerie Phillips in Chicago. The ACLU also warns that anti-loitering laws are unconstitutional.
Yet curfews and loitering violations are just two of a range of issues involving parental responsibility.
In Elgin, the City Council last year enacted a weapons and firearms ordinance that fines adults from $25 to $500 if someone under 18 comes into contact with their weapons. ”(The ordinance) puts the responsibility back in the hand of an adult,” said Juvenile Sgt. Paul McCurtain.
A similar proposed state law would hold an adult responsible if a child under 14 gains access to a firearm or if the adult fails to use a trigger lock on a weapon. The bill, approved by the Senate, was defeated in the House in the most recent session. It may be reintroduced and is patterned after laws in nine other states.
Pat Valentino of Streamwood, legislative liaison for the Illinois State Rifle Association, said: ”It`s ludicrous to pick out one thing and attack it. There are just as many deaths and accidents with things people leave lying around their home.”
An area gaining increasing attention is that of underage drinking.
Although not targeted only at parents, the Illinois Appellate Court last year opened the way for a new legal concept called social-host liability. Under it, adults who allow underage drinking of alcohol in their homes or at private parties may be held civilly liable if someone is injured by an intoxicated teen driver who left their home.
In July, the Regional Prevention Group, a coalition of community leaders in the northwest suburbs concerned with alcohol and drug prevention, asked local municipalities to pass an underage drinking ordinance. If approved, adults who serve liquor to minors could receive a $500 fine and be held responsible for paying for any property damage done by minors under the influence. No community has yet to adopt the ordinance.
A child`s behavior and the parent`s responsibility for it goes beyond curfew violations and underage drinking. This spring in Woodstock, in an effort to halt teen smoking, the City Council adopted an ordinance making it illegal for teens under 18 to possess tobacco products.
Although 70 percent of the 5th through 12th graders in Woodstock public and private schools supported the ban, according to a City Council survey, few parents responded to the council`s plea for input, said Mayor Jim Shoemaker.
”We were very angry that there was no participation from adults,” said Shoemaker. ”In this case, (parents) were saying `we want you guys to do this.` In effect, they`re giving us the guardianship of their kids.”
Autumn Mather, a senior at Woodstock High School who disagreed with the council`s decision, said, ”It is the parent`s responsibility to teach their children values, and part of that value system is to decide if smoking is what you want to do.”
By legislating values for kids, said Mather, ”more and more schools and governments are taking over parental responsibility and damaging the whole idea of parental-child interaction and learning values.”
Between children and such efforts by government sit frustrated parents.
”I don`t think you can be with your children all the time,” said Kathy Orms, a single mother of three teens who works at Kenneth W. Young Centers in Elk Grove Village. ”You raise your children to be more independent and not less.”
And while she believes parents should be held responsible for neglect of their children or for allowing teenage drinking, Orms said, ”I don`t think you can be held responsible for every act your child takes. They should suffer the consequences of their own behavior.”
”We all as parents fool ourselves by wanting to believe our kids are so responsible and mature,” said Phil Seroczynski, a social worker for 21 years at Prospect High School. ”Unwittingly, we end up trusting the kids too much. The peer influence is very strong.”
To encourage more parent-child interaction, the courts have gone beyond just enforcing laws and have made an effort to help parents and their children get back on track.
Presiding Judge James Geocaris of the 3rd Municipal District Court in Rolling Meadows sentences teens caught with marijuana or alcohol to attend counseling and education classes in Rolling Meadows, Streamwood and Barrington with their parents.
”It`s a lot better than just fining the kid and sending them on their way,” said Geocaris. ”We hope it is a deterrent to driving and drinking.”
”It`s hard to know what the rules are today,” said Gerald Laschinski, a clinical social worker in Palatine for the last 30 years. ”Society has been going in a direction for many years where children have less and less supervision and parents have less and less control.”
Laschinski believes the court system must back up parents who feel their children are out of control by giving bottom line consequences for criminal behavior. ”You can say parents should be held responsible, but if they weren`t in control of their kids 10 years ago, how can they get control (of teenagers) now? The courts must back parents and the parents and children have counseling to re-establish a credible parental system.”
