Our Island Family Life

So, I forgot to mention. Last night Cade was telling Will about walking to his dad's house from the high school this past weekend. Will asked me if I had seen the news yesterday. I said no, just the weather. He told me and Cade that there was a mention how a cop had seen a kid walking down the street alone(from school it seems) and he picked him up and brought him home. Apparently the kid is 8 and now the family is being investigated by DHHS. There was a huge thing in the news last week about how according to federal standards our State was severely lacking in it's child welfare. Since the spotlight is now "on" hopefully more kids will be helped. I did see that special. So, Cade asked him if the kid had been walking in a bad part of town. Will kind of laughed and told him, it's a city, is there a good part? No matter where you are you have to pay attention to your surroundings. Kids, teens, even adults get snatched every day all over the country. Cade said his dad had told him they lived in a good area. Will told him that they did live in a cul de sac and that was sort of protected but he had to go past some sketchy parts to get there. Not only that, the traffic is very high. Also, they bought a house in a place they could afford and want to believe it's a good neighborhood. When dad lived with us he said point blank to all of us he would never want to raise his kids in that kind of neighborhood. Bottom line is if the cop had seen Cade then he would have been the one brought home. Then see an empty house and then have brought him back to the school. Will told Cade not to ever walk to the house alone again or ride his bike to the store which is even further away than the school. They let him do that too. If he needs to get away from dad and the others to try and find a quiet place and call home for a bit. His safety is more important than their ignorance. I think I just blinked a few times. I know Will has a protective streak but he usually keeps it pretty hidden. He isn't above being a bully either with them at times. Cade was wide eyed and nodded vigorously. Will didn't raise his voice or look angry or anything. Cade asked how the kid who got picked up was and Will said he was fine but he didn't know how the investigation was going and he doubted the news would cover it. I guess I wasn't the only one upset at the idea of Cade doing that.