Mom found guilty of letting five-year-old son walk outside alone vows to fight back

A Virginia mom has vowed to fight back after being convicted on a child abuse charge for letting her five-year-old walk outside alone.

Karyann Parkinson has sparked a global debate on parenting, after she allowed her son Samuel to head out the family home without her.

She says the youngster loves collecting goose feathers, and over the summer she allowed him to walk the half a mile journey down to the local pond for more.

The family live in a gated community and as Samuel was leaving the gates, he was stopped by security guards, who escorted the child back home.

Speaking to CBS News, Parkinson recalled: "The security guard said, 'Well, we don't permit children to be out in the neighborhood alone.' And I said, 'Is that in an HOA [homeowners association] bylaw? Because I really don't think that's against the rules.

"And he said, 'Well, if it's not against the rules, then it's against the law. And I'm gonna call the police.'"

At first the mom didn't think much of this threat, however both the police and Child Protective Services (CPS) responded on the day of the complaint. Two weeks later, Parkinson was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

She said: "We just expected that as soon as this gets in front of a prosecutor actually looking at it and a judge, this is all gonna go away."

That is not what happened.

The mom ended up being convicted on that charge and handed a six month suspended sentence, as well as being placed on Virginia's child abuse and neglect registry for seven years.

This means she won't be able to volunteer for anything related to her son's school during this time.

Parkinson has vowed to appeal the conviction, particularly given the fact that Virginia is one of 13 states in the US which has a reasonable childhood independence law. This is designed to prevent the state for getting too involved in parental decisions, which many have argued is at odds with this conviction.

Nevertheless, the situation has sparked passionate debates around parenting online, with people expressing strong views both in favor and against Parkinson's decision to let her son walk outside alone.

"There's also been, just unbelievable to get so many messages from a lot of moms who say that something similar has happened to them," she said.

"I think that, ideally, we have a conversation, we see that a kid is confident and capable, and we leave it at that. We don't interfere with children if they seem to be doing just fine."