Thursday, November 13, 2008

Abandoning a child

A horrible situation. However, I should be grateful this law was not effect when I was growing up.
My parents would have dropped me off and caught the first flight to San Juan. Believe me, they would have been totally justified.
In Nebraska, it's only going to be legal for a limited time only.
The safe-haven law was intended to save "Dumpster babies" by allowing desperate young mothers to abandon their newborns at a hospital without fear of prosecution. But lawmakers could not agree on an age limit, and the law as passed uses only the word "child."
All states have safe-haven laws, but in every state but Nebraska, the law applies to infants only.
Authier said her group and others had warned senators after the law passed early this year that there could be problems, but the lawmakers did not believe it.
"It wasn't like talking to a stone wall," Authier said. "It was just that people who aren't in the business of dealing with families, they aren't aware how desperate some of these families are."
Sure enough, 20 teenagers — six 17-year-olds, two 16-year-olds, six 15-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, three 13-year-olds — have been abandoned, along with eight children who were 11 or 12. Five of the children dropped off have been from out of state.


Back in my day, parents would just drop the kids off at school and let the teachers deal with 'em.

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