KidNation is being Investigated!
It seems that after a mother complained to the state about something that happened during the filming of KidNation, New Mexico took interest. Even though the show stopped filming in May and begins to air in September, they can still get into a lot of trouble if found guilty.
New Mexico is looking into whether or not KidNation broke any state laws or labor laws when they had children fend for themselves. According to a rep for the Attorney’s State Office:
“Information is being evaluated now and reviewed in light of all the interest in this. We are determining what our next move will be or even if there will be one. Even though it seems it’s kind of a moot point, there are a lot of things to look into that we could still address.â€?
By all means, I really hope they didn’t but even after watching footage I had wondered. I don’t know if it is illegal to make the kids do all the work that they showed in the filming but I do understand why the parents would be upset. I’d be a bit ticked off if it were my kids.
According to the NYTimes the 22-page contract signed by parents stated:
“parents and kids were responsible for “emotional distress, illness, sexually transmitted diseases, H.I.V. and pregnancyâ€? if the participant “chooses to enter into an intimate relationship of any nature with another participant or any other person,
I’m not sure about you, but this would’ve been a definite FORGET IT. To state if something goes wrong they are taking no liability, they already had NO privacy except for showering and going to the restroom. Why could they NOT watch children to make sure they were doing anything?
Here’s a part that someone will be getting in trouble for:
“Violating the confidentiality agreement carries a $5 million penalty. CBS and the production companies, Good TV Inc. and Magic Molehill Productions, retained the rights to the children’s life stories ‘in perpetuity and throughout the universe.”
I wonder if they’ll sue now that word has gotten out? Now a child was able to get paid $5,000 but if they left the show early they no longer qualified. Hmmm, but didn’t they send kids away every week? (I could be wrong there since I haven’t seen the September episodes)
Accidents:
1 girl burned by splattered grease to her face. (sounds like cooking duty)
4 children hospitalized after mistakenly drinking bleach
We shall all be finding out really soon what it was really like and if KidNation broke any laws. Stay tuned!
August 24th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I would never let my daughter do anything like that, but I don’t really blame the show so much as the parents. They must have known the premis of the show and still chose to allow their children to participate. I also know that if my kid were on the show and thought they were being treated unfairly, she’d leave or raise hell about it! Good girl.
August 30th, 2007 at 10:37 am
No, I wouldn’t either. My kids would call me the biggest meanie on the face of the earth but after reading the contract I wouldn’t trust it totally. Not to mention they’ve never been at a sleep over as I believe that is at a certain age.
October 3rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Kidnation should be investigated, and they should go ahead and pull it off the air for the remainder of the season. Kids are already growing up too fast these days and to put them in a relatively unsupervised situation and tell them to play ‘house’ is nothing short of child endangerment. I watched the first 2 minutes of tonight’s episode (10/3) and they had the kids in a bar room pretending to get liquored up. What kind of message is this sending to all the kids watching this. Parents, you should be up in arms over this show.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Oh come on….Its just a show….There are a bunch of adults around. If you don’t like it, then don’t watch, but EVERYONE can learn something from this show!!
October 26th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I have to say that I have really enjoyed the show and even record it to watch later if there’s the slimmest chance I might miss it. It seems to me that people should realize that a little hard work never hurt anyone and the older kids do look out for the younger ones. (and Jim’s right, there are adults around, it’s TV, just cuz you can’t see them doesn’t mean they are not there) On a final note, If a couple of these kids are being truthful in their opinions and thoughts, there are a couple I’d like to see running the country!!!!!!!!!
November 4th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I love this show. Really shows these kids in a positive light. It’s amazing how GREAT they all are (except for that brat Taylor…I hope her parents are embarrassed at what they’ve created) and how hard they work at making Bonanza City thrive.
That said…I would never let my son do it. I’d be too scared.
November 25th, 2007 at 12:33 am
My three kids enjoy watching this show and the tough decisions that the kidnation kids are making in each episode. I like that it forces these children to use their own minds and deal with the consequences of their actions, plus they actually have to work hard! My kids can relate to the different characters and they discuss the pros and cons of each show. I see it as a great learning opportunity for participants and viewers alike.
November 25th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
This is a great learning opportunity for ever participant and viewer alike… most adults MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEARN SOMETHING FROM THIS SHOW. The difference is that children still have an open mind to life. I have worked with children for over 10 years in many different situation a child if given the opportunity to make a decision, will make the best one. These children are working hard to run a town and maybe for the first time in their lives they are not getting everything handed to them. I would guarantee that if you took one single adult and threw THEM into the mix they would some how find a way to destroy purity . We as a nation are failing our children and have been for YEARS!!! Wake up America!!! So you have a child work hard and earn something… wow when did that become a bad thing. Lets compare two shows, one ran by children and the other by adults… Kid Nation vs. Survivor! One in the same… yet one teaches morals and values vs. the other teaches whoever can manipulate people, lie better, deceive the best will be there at the end. If my children ever wanted to attend Kid Nation, THEY WOULD HAVE 100% OF MY SUPPORT.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
It is so pathetic that because a mother doesn’t get what she wanted she complained to a official about a show that builds your childs self esteem so that when they grow upo they know that they can make it on their own. So what if there was no parental supervision in ten years they won’t have any supervision either. And although you don’t see it there are actually people there that were there to make sure that if someone got hurt tere was a way for them to get help. They weren’t completly alone. They directors just don’t tell you about it. Thousands of kids around the country and arouind the world that are eight and nine years old that donh’t have poarents and are living on the streets with no home and no person to give them food and they live like this for pretty much their entire childhood lives and most go on to be homeless the rest of their lives. So be so upset your child was partially unsupervised for a mere 40 days cause they could be on the streets for the rest of their lives. Don’t be so upset at something that can actually help your child become a better person because of it.