Corey Widen is still in shock that she was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The mother, age 48, who is teased by her friends for being overly protective of her children, can’t believe the reason for the investigation.

What is the reason you ask? She let her 8-year-old daughter walk their dog around the block alone. During the walk, an anonymous caller reported the incident to the police. Although the police never pursued charges, it launched an investigation to see if she was neglecting her children.

Widen says she can see almost all of the block out the windows of her home and this was the only time that her daughter is out of her sight because she is home schooled. Sadly, incidents like this aren’t as uncommon as you might think.

Mothers all over the U.S. have found themselves in similar situations after their child was seen alone, but unharmed. Chicago author Kim Brooks had it happen to her.

She left her 4-year-old son in the car for just a few minutes to run a quick errand. It was a nice cool day outside, but was shocked to find out that a stranger reported her to police. She says she was ashamed because she didn’t understand, but not because she did something horrible.

Even though both of the situations turned out to be fine, both mothers were succumbed to stressful and invasive investigations, something that rarely happens to a father if they are found in the exact same situation.

Experts say that doing a full investigation over such small incidents are a waste of time and resources and claim that expecting parents to keep an eye on their child 100 percent of the time is absurd.

Widen says that she feels strongly that parents should be allowed to do what they feel is best for their children unless it is truly neglect. Her situation was not. After all, how are we supposed to teach our children independence and responsibility if we are hovering over them every minute of every day?

What do you think about this? Is it fair and justified, or is the law overstepping boundaries? Be sure to share this story with your family and friends and see what they think too.