Mum shockingly arrested for trying to protect her daughter from bullying

Sarah Sims, like any other mother, was concerned when her daughter, who is in Year 4, told her she was being bullied at school. 

So, Ms Sims called the school, but the school never returned her call. 

Sarah was still unsure about what to do, and decided to find out more. So she sent her daughter to school with a recording device in her backpack to try and work out exactly what was going on.

Ms Sims told CNN, ‘I did not want to just side with my child. I wanted to be fair.’ 

Unfortunately the police had other ideas and earlier this month Sarah was charged with a felony – intercepting wire or electronic communications and a second charge contributing to delinquency of a minor.

In Sarah’s home state of Virginia, it’s a crime to record another person without their knowledge. Similar laws apply in Australia.

‘I was appalled when I heard these charges,’ Sarah’s attorney Kristin Paulding told CNN. ‘I was shocked to see that the school would decide to go to the police department and ultimately charge this mother as opposed to sitting her down and having just a simple conversation about what were her concerns and how could the school alleviate those concerns.’

This article originally appeared on New Idea.