Neighbor calls child services after mother lets her 8-year-old daughter walk the dog alone

Corey Widen, a mother of two, got surprised after the police went to her house because a neighbor reported that one of her daughters was walking her dog alone.

According to WCNC, Dorothy, who is eight years old, left the house for about five minutes to walk the family dog, Marshmallow, around the block in the quiet Chicago neighborhood.

Minutes later, the police were knocking at her door as they were erroneously reported that Dorothy was five years old, which is considerably more dangerous than what actually happened.

After a brief investigation the police did, they found nothing to pursue. Corey and Dorothy thought that the issue was over, but a couple of days later the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services contacted the family.

Today reported that the same person who called the police and said that Dorothy was five years old was the one who called the agency to report them. Corey pointed out that she was not neglecting her child and that the neighbor should face charges for filing two false complaints.

"Even if you're not 100 percent on board with your child walking around the block, most people are confident that a North Shore mom who stays at home with their kids, who's devoted their life to them, has got good enough judgment to decide when her child is ready or not ready to do that,'' confessed Corey.

IS IT OKAY FOR CHILDREN TO BE OUT WITH NO SUPERVISION?

That incident sparked the debate of whether or not children should be under supervision outside their homes. Professor of Clinical psychology at Columbia University Ann Marie Albano told WCNC that such activity at the age of eight or nine was appropriate for children as long as it took place in a safe area as it was a way to train the children to be independent adults.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

Today added that the law in Illinois is quite vague as it stipulates that children under 14 years of age cannot be left unsupervised for an unreasonable amount of time.

Those regulations try to protect children from being hurt or kidnapped, which is what happened in Taiwan when a man tried to snatch a child while she was walking next to her mother. Thankfully, the man gave up, and he was arrested.