Do you know who lives in your neighborhood? The Family Watchdog web site will help you find out.
Chances are there are several sex offenders living in your neighborhood. You just don’t know it. According to the Family Watchdog group, awareness is your best defense.
By some standards, I may be an overprotective mom. I walk my kindergartner out to the end of the driveway and wait with him for the school bus. I also make sure to be waiting for him, again in the driveway, when the bus drops him off at the end of the day. He (and my other younger children) are not allowed to play outside unless I am out there, too, or at least on the screened porch, where I can keep a close ear and eye on them.
Still, I can feel somewhat better about their safety after visiting the Family Watchdog website. Fortunately for me, our new neighborhood only has four registered offenders in my area, none very close to my house at all. Yes, that is still four too many, especially since two of them are registered for crimes against children. But, thanks to the website, I have names, photos and addresses of these offenders.
I have to admit that I was shocked when I checked the area of our previous home. The house is in a nice area with a prominent church influence in the town. But for the same size area, there are currently 141 sex offenders living and working very close by. In fact, I spotted one offender who lives right next door to a friend of mine; a friend who has two young boys. Scary.
The Family Watchdog website is very easy to use. Just input your address and a map will pop up that is color coded with little squares. The map can be zoomed in or out, move the map left, right, up or down or even see an aerial shot. It will also tell you exactly how many registered offenders are in that particular area. You can click on a square to get details that may include the specific crime, a name, an address and a photo of the offender, depending on how good your town or state is at reporting the details.
If you have children, a visit to this site is a good idea. To go to the Family Watchdog, click here.
What do you think? I would love to hear about your experiences with the Family Watchdog website.
Mary Ann Romans writes about her family’s money saving secrets in the Frugal Living Blog here at Families.com
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