You'll want to file this one under "You've Gotta Be Shitting Me." A kid was removed from his family and placed in foster care after his father, an archaeology professor in Ann Arbor, Mich., let his 7-year-old son drink a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade at a baseball game.
See, Daddy didn't know "hard" meant "with alcohol." His family doesn't watch a lot of TV so they've never seen an ad for Mike's Hard Lemonade, and there was nothing on the sign indicating that the lemonade was anything but a cool, refreshing beverage for the whole family.
It started when a security guard saw the kid holding a bottle of the stuff. He asked Christopher Ratte, the boy's father, whether he was aware there was alcohol in it. Ratte said, "you've got to be kidding me," and before he could read the lable, the guard grabbed the bottle and initiated a chain of events that, as a parent, is so freaking terrifying. They whisked the boy to the hospital -- in an ambulance. Cops interviewed, social workers called in.
The boy was placed in foster care overnight!
The story is completely enraging, especially because the whole time, all the official people are saying "this is ridiculous," but rather than using their own judgment, followed some kind of crazy, cover-my-ass protocols and let it all spiral out of control.
This reminded me of another story of a story on Salon a few years ago: "They Called Me a Child Pornographer." And also I story I overheard, about a child who broke his arm at the park being separated from his family pending an investigation of the cause. (A fall from the monkey bars!).
I couldn't imagine my 7-year-old daughter's trauma were she to be removed by complete strangers, even for just one night, in a strangers home. Does this terrify only me?
Photo: Detroit Free Press
