Safe Haven or Escape Route?

Nebraska fears rush to drop off kids before haven law change

Not a good situation: Because of a loophole that does not specify the age of kids that are covered under the safe haven law, Nebraska legislators and hospitals are scrambling because parents from all over the U.S. are coming to drop off their kids for good - and only six out of the 34 are less than 10 years of age.

State Senator Tom White said that he thinks this is an "extraordinary cry for help" from people dropping their kids off. I doubt there are that many parents who are in true need of getting rid of their teenagers, but actually those who want to teach their kids a lesson, or just don't want to deal with teen angst. (Can someone show these parents The Breakfast Club and let them know they're not alone? Teens are angsty.)

You've heard of states that have safe haven laws specifically meant for infants so that they are not left in trash cans, school bathrooms, and dumpsters without fear of being charged with abandonment, if the children are in imminent danger. Yet every other state, which Nebraska should have paid attention to, had an age limit in their legislation.

I'll stop citing the article for now so you can read the details, but seriously, are there not enough government programs for parents to reach out to without dumping their kids off at a hospital multiple states away? Every state has support programs, mental health facilities, phone numbers and doctors in the phone book that involve getting help for your kid (and maybe even yourself.)

I think some parents think that this Nebraska law allows them to dump off their kids so they can get help and rehabilitated. Unless the child is in a life-threatening situation at home, I don't see how they can use a state hospital to help parent their kids. I am forever frustrated that some parents think it's a state's or country's job to help raise their kids, no matter what the circumstances. This from the same country who rallied a huge outcry when Bush passed legislation that allowed the government to tap our phones with no precedent! We only want help when we don't know what to do!

I hope it's less than a week before Nebraska gets this legislation passed. We need to protect our young in the most fragile days of their life and especially prevent helpless mothers making a frantic decision that puts an innocent life in danger. What kind of mental hullabaloo is going on in these teens' minds as their parents drive or fly them to abandon them at a strange hospital? "I love you, but get out of my house?" "I love you, but I don't know what to do with you?" Puts a lot of confidence in their hearts about the adult population, I tell you. (That was sarcasm, in case my blogging skills don't convey that yet.)

I hope most of these kids are actually safer in Nebraska than where they came from, for sure. But my gut feeling is that, as more and more reports of kids running away from their parents in the process of dropping them at the hospital and parents admitting they were trying to "teach them a lesson," I have low confidence that most of these kids are benefiting from their parents putting trust in strangers to help them.