If you haven’t yet heard this one, here’s a recap:
Pregnant and hungry, an Oahu mom brought her 2-year-old daughter and husband to Safeway to buy food on October 26, 2011. They bought two deli sandwiches on special for $5 and ate them while shopping.
At checkout, they forgot to pay for the eaten sandwiches with their other groceries and were detained by Safeway security.
Safeway officials proceeded to hold the couple for FOUR HOURS in a break room at the store. Reportedly, police officers arrived after about 2 hours, and they waited another 2 hours for a Child Welfare Services worker to take their 2-year-old daughter into PROTECTIVE CUSTODY. Both parents were taken to jail, where they later bailed out for $50 each.
The incident sparked much debate in the blogosphere and on the radio about whether or not parents should permit their children to eat unpurchased food while shopping. I am not interested in continuing that debate here. What I would rather do is share with you what you need to do to avoid ever being in a situation like this one. Get a Kids Protection Plan.
Child Welfare Services is the government’s plan for you. If you want a different set of rules to apply—if you want to maintain any semblance of control over who watches and raises your children, even in short-term scenarios, then you need to formulate and implement a Kids Protection Plan. Nominate short-term first responders and get the right legal documents in their hands so they can take custody of your keiki in an emergency.
If you don’t already have a plan in place to protect your children in the event that something renders you unable to parent, then you need to develop one now! Call us today to schedule your Family Wealth Planning Session, and we’ll focus on helping you create a plan to safeguard your children when you are unable to protect them yourself.