BasehorLady's Blog

As many of you may have heard, children of all ages are being dropped off at facilities in Nebraska pursuant to the safe haven law.  Over 70 children just since July.  Now the rules are about to change.  There is to be an age limit of three days old, but it will not take effect for some time.  I find it sad for them to limit it to newborns.  What will now happen to the children that really need a safe haven?  Will more children suffer beatings at the hands of their parents because the parents just "can't take it anymore?"  Wouldn't it be better to have a safe haven for those children in times of need?  What are your thoughts?   What did they think would happen when they implemented this law in the first place?

Nebraska Lawmakers Agree On Safe-Haven Age Limit Protestors hold signs in front of the Creighton Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008. The organizers of the protest against Nebraska's Safe Haven law hoped it will help convince state lawmakers to convene and put an age limit in the law before the regular legislative session starts in January. Nebraska's law allows anyone to leave a child as old as 18 at a state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution. On Monday, a Michigan mother drove about 12 hours to Omaha and dropped off her 13-year-old son at medical center.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik) Michigan Teenager Dropped At Omaha, Neb., Hospital 14-Year-Old Iowa Girl Abandoned Under Nebraska Law or just enabling jstl so that we can just write ${bean.property} and jsp takes care of the new lines. -->By NATE JENKINS
Associated Press Writer

LINCOLN, Neb.  --  Stung by the abandonment of children as old as 17 at Nebraska hospitals, the governor and lawmakers struck a deal Monday to rewrite the state's safe haven law so it applies only to infants up to three days old.

 

A rash of drop-offs in recent months, particularly those of teenagers and from out of state, thrust the state into the national spotlight. The law was ridiculed on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend.

Forty of the 49 senators in the unicameral Legislature and Gov. Dave Heineman have agreed to the changes, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood said during a news conference on Monday.

The state's safe-haven law allows caregivers to abandon children -- interpreted by some to include those as old as 18 -- at hospitals without fear of prosecution. The age cap would change Nebraska's safe-haven law from the most lenient in the country to one of the most restrictive. Sixteen other states have a similar 3-day-old age cap.

At least 18 children, aged 22 months to 17 years, have been abandoned since the law took effect in July, including a child from Iowa and a Michigan child who was driven from there by his mother.

The Nebraska law, intended to prevent infants from being dumped or abandoned in dangerous places by mothers who don't want them, has had "serious, unintended consequences," Heineman said. "This law needs to be changed to focus on infants."

Heineman has said he would prefer not to call a special session to change the law before the regular session starts in January, though he indicated that if more out of state children were abandoned under the law he might change his mind.

Flood said lawmakers would likely quickly change the law in the first couple of weeks of the new year.

In the meantime, Nebraska officials are trying to prevent more drop-offs.

Heineman has authorized Health and Human Services to spend up to $100,000 promoting a help line operated by the United Way for parents and guardians. The state is also sending letters to all adoptive parents and guardians of children who are former state wards providing phone numbers and Web sites of agencies that can help them if they are having problems with their children.