As of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, parents face criminal charges if they abandon any child older than 30 days in Nebraska. Previously, it had been the only state in the country with a safe-haven law that lacked an age limit. Lawmakers made the change today.
Since July, 35 children — most of them teenagers, five from out of state — were dropped off in Nebraska. “These kids are old enough to know they’re being dropped off and that’s not good,” Sen. Kent Rogert told the Associated Press.
Safe haven laws were originally intended to prevent mothers from throwing away or killing unwanted newborns. Some child safety advocates say that the government needs to do more to protect teenagers and expand programs to help them.
One mother told the AP that she sympathized with parents who dropped off their kids as a last resort. Therese Guy of Papillion, Neb., said that it had taken her nine months to get her foster child’s mental problems diagnosed because of the backlog in social services. Kids dropped off under the safe-haven law got help immediately.
“Don’t change the safe-haven law until you have other changes in place, because it’s helping the kids now,” she said.
Parents have been racing to abandon their kids in Nebraska as the state prepares to change its safe-haven law. The legislature is meeting today in a special session, but because of procedures, at least another week could pass before it becomes illegal for parents to drop off any child older than a a few days old.
Earlier this week, a 14-year-old boy and his 17-year-old sister were abandoned at an Omaha hospital, but the girl ran away after she was left. At a different hospital, a mom relinquished her 5-year-old son. A father flew in from Miami to dump his teenage son.
“Think of what you are saying,” Gov. Dave Heineman said in an open plea on CNN. “You are saying you no longer support them. You no longer love them.” He and other authorities urged parents and guardians to seek help among family and friends and with social services programs
A total of 34 kids have been abandoned since September; most are teenagers. In other states, parents can only relinquish newborns. Tysheema Brown, who drove from Georgia to drop off her teenager, told CNN that people should not judge her as a parent because her son has behavioral problems. “I love my son and my son knows that,” Brown said. “There is just no help. There hasn’t been any help.”
In several cases, children from outside Nebraska have been sent back to their home states in the custody of social services there. Nebraska officials have compiled information about 30 of the 34 kids. Twenty-seven of the children have received mental health treatment previous; 28 come from single-parent homes; and 22 have a parent who has been in jail before. Child advocates say they hope the Nebraska crisis spurs more action to improve services for troubled kids.
The girl was dropped off by her mother at a Lincoln hospital on Sunday. But while Nebraska authorities placed the young woman in an emergency shelter, they did not count her as a “safe-haven” case, the Associated Press reported. A different law won’t let the officials take anybody under age 17 into state custody.
The mother told hospital staff that her daughter, who was adopted, refused to take medication. The teen apparently is bipolar and suffers from several disorders, including a learning disability.
The kids who are being counted under the safe-haven law now number 30. The statute, which was intended to allow parents to abandon newborns without facing criminal charges, was so broadly written that teenagers are being dumped. Lawmakers are meeting Friday to rewrite the statute.
Parents have driven to Nebraska from as far away as Georgia to get rid of their kids. Today, an 17-year-old boy was left at an Omaha university hospital. A mom unloaded her 11-year-old daughter last Wednesday at Bergan Mercy Hospital in Omaha. The following morning at the same hospital, an 8-year-old boy was dropped off.
Three kids have been dropped off in Nebraska since the governor announced last week that a special legislative session will be held on Nov. 14 to change the state’s safe-haven law.
A 17-year-old boy was dropped off by his grandmother at an Omaha hospital, the Associated Press reported. The teen had been classified as a state ward but was living with family as he was undergoing therapy.
A 16-year-old girl was relinquished by her mother, who drove from their Arizona home. The family had previously lived in Papillion, south of Omaha, where the girl was left. Authorities told the AP that the girl was unaware as they were driving back that she would be dumped.
Another teen girl was abandoned in Omaha over the weekend, but her age and further details were unavailable on Monday.
Lawmakers are expected to change the safe-haven law to allow only newborns up to three days old to be relinquished. Since September, the current law, which is broadly written to include kids up to age 18, has turned Nebraska into a destination for parents around the country who want to get rid of their kids without facing criminal charges.
Parents only have a couple of more weeks to abandon their children in Nebraska without facing criminal charges.
Gov. Dave Heineman decided Wednesday to call a special legislative session on Nov. 14 to change a law that has inadvertently made the state a dumping ground for troubled kids, the Associated Press reported. A proposed revision would make the law only apply to newborns three days old or younger.
Previously, the governor had wanted to wait until lawmakers were scheduled to meet again in January. But in the past eight days, five kids have been dropped off. The total is 23 and counting.
One mom had driven all the way from Georgia to relinquish her 12-year-old son. A teen mom wanted refuge, along with her infant son, and nine kids were abandoned by a widower. Nearly all have been teenagers. Some child advocates have said Nebraska’s dilemma shows the need for more social services.
Safe haven laws in all other states were narrowly written to apply only to infants. The safe-haven movement was started in 1998 by Tim Jaccard. A New York police officer, he had found a baby drowned in a toilet by his mother and other newborns in plastic bags, buried or in recycling bins.
How many more kids will be abandoned in the Cornhusker State before January? Lawmakers recently agreed to change Nebraska’s safe-haven law so that it will only apply to newborns, but the legislature doesn’t meet again until the beginning of the year.
So the kids keep coming. On Saturday night, a Georgia woman drove 1,000 miles to Lincoln to get rid of her 12-year-old son. It’s the third out-of-state drop-off, with the others being from Iowa and Michigan.
On Friday, a teenage mom came to a Omaha hospital to turn in herself and her 10-month-old baby boy. The 16-year-old said she had been kicked out of her mother’s home and emotionally and physically abused, according to the Associated Press. The girl and her infant have been placed in foster care, and police are investigating the abuse accusations against the teen’s mother.
A spokesperson for Gov. Dave Heineman said on Sunday that the state is evaulating whether to change the law before January. It costs $80,000 per day to hold a special legislative session.
The days of parents abandoning kids of all ages at Nebraska hospitals are coming to an end.
After a rash of mothers and fathers giving up children as old as 17, lawmakers on Monday revised the state’s safe haven law to apply only to newborns three days old or younger, the Associated Press reported.
In recent months, Nebraska’s unique law, which did not specify an age limit for children being relinquished, had made the state a dumping ground for troubled kids. In recent weeks, one mother drove 12 hours from Detroit to drop off her 13-year son. She followed an overwhelmed Nebraska widower who gave up nine of his 10 children.
The bill to add the three-day age limit to the safe haven law hasn’t officially passed yet, since Nebraska’s legislature is not in session until January. But the governor and state’s senators announced at a press conference on Monday that the deal had been struck.
The three-day age cap will make the state’s safe-haven law, formerly the most generous in the country, one of the most restrictive. Most states gives parents a full month to relinquish a newborn without penalty, but 16 states allow only three days.
She apparently only wanted to get rid of one kid, but now authorities have taken away her other three children.
The suburban Detroit woman had driven to Nebraska to abandon her 13-year-old son under the state’s controversial safe haven law earlier this week. Now she’s facing neglect charges in Michigan, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The woman and her husband, who have two biological children, had adopted the 13-year-old and a 10-year-old sibling out of foster care. A prosecutor’s petition filed on Wednesday says that there was evidence of abuse against the teenager, who had burns on his chest and hands and scars on his body. The boy had behavioral issues and was on medication, but missed several mental health appointments. The woman and her husband had tried to rescind his adoption but worried about losing the other kids.
The 13-year-old boy was left with $10, extra clothes and luggage. The mother’s good-bye message was, “Just do what you have to do, and I’ll check back with you soon,” the teen told police, according to a Detroit Free Press report.
The mom had driven 725 miles from suburban Detroit to drop him off in Nebraska, the only state in the country that allows parents to abandon kids without facing criminal charges. The boy is now in state custody and a hearing is scheduled for Oct. 27 to determine whether she will get him back or terminate her parental rights.
The teenager told authorities that after his mother dumped him, she said he “would realize she wasn’t kidding anymore.” She apparently couldn’t deal with his behavioral problems. She made the 12-hour trip with the child’s aunt and grandmother and left the boy at a Omaha hospital on Monday.
The 13-year-old boy from Detroit is the second out-of-state child to be dropped off in Nebraska.
The teen was placed in an emergency shelter, and state social service agencies are in touch with his parents, authorities told KETV. The boy was dropped off at an Omaha hospital around 1:30 a.m. Monday.
Lawmakers may call for a special session to fix the state’s safe haven law. Since September, the state has become a dumping ground for parents who no longer want to take care of their teenagers. Eighteen kids have been abandoned under a law that had been intended for mothers to give up their newborns without facing criminal charges. Previous Minor Troubles postings about the law are here and here.