Antonia Folsom, from Georgia, has hit the headlines over her ‘tough-love’ approach to disciplining her teenage son after he broke curfew one too many times.
According to reports, the 34-year-old mother-of-four had had about enough of her 13-year-old son’s tardiness, and when he returned home late yet again last week, she decided to lock him out of the house.
The teen had arrived home at 9:15pm – a quarter of an hour after his curfew – when he found himself locked out. Despite numerous attempts to come inside, the teen was forced to sleep outside on the concrete patio, with his older brother passing him out a blanket and a pillow.
When the boy was not allowed to enter the house the following morning either, he contacted the police, who arrested Folsom on a charge of deprivation of a minor. Folsom is now on bail, while her children are in the care of their grandmother.
While Folsom’s move has come in for considerable criticism around the world, it has sparked debate in her locality, with neighbours rallying around her.
Describing her as a “fantastic mother”, Folsom’s sister told local media: “When you have one that’s out of control and you’re trying to keep him from getting in trouble with the law, or going out and committing a crime or getting killed, you do everything you can to go out of your way to keep them safe.”
Folsom, meanwhile, has set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise money for her legal bills, and claims that she was “wrongly charged”.
