Last year in this space, I wrote about a case in which a New Jersey appeals court found that a mother could be put on the state’s child abuse registry, with life-changing consequences, for having left her sleeping toddler alone in the back seat of her locked, running car while she ran into a store briefly. No harm had come to the child during the ten minutes and an investigation found nothing else wrong with the family. 

Now a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court has reversed that decision. Not only does the mother deserve a hearing before being put on the registry, it said, but such a hearing should not find neglect unless her conduct is found to have placed the child at “imminent risk of harm.” 

The battle is by no means over. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families vowed to continue its efforts to hold the mother responsible for gross neglect, its spokesperson saying that “leaving a child alone in a vehicle – even for just a minute – is a dangerous and risky decision.” That’s one view. Another view is the one I expressed last year: 

When the law behaves this way, is it really protecting children? What about the risks children face when their parent is pulled into the police or Child Protective Services system because of overblown fears about what conceivably might have happened, but never did?

For much more on this subject, check out the speech at Cato last year (with me moderating) by the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement, Lenore Skenazy, who has written extensively on the New Jersey case. She’s also been contributed the lead essay at a Cato Unbound symposium on children’s safety and liberty. We’ve also covered the celebrated case of the Meitiv family of Silver Spring, Md., who have faced extensive hassles from Montgomery County, Md. Child Protective Services for letting their children walk home alone from a local park. 

This post was adapted and expanded from Overlawyered.