- Parents abandoning troublesome kids
- By Mira Oberman
- The Australian
- 26/09/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
NINE siblings were among 11 children abandoned in one night amid a rash of such abandonments in a US state.
Three families abandoned 11 children at Nebraska hospitals as officials in the rural midwestern state scramble to respond to the sudden trend.
The family of nine children aged one to 17 - has brought the state's total to 16 children relinquished to state custody in 11 days.
Most of the children abandoned were teenagers.
Officials are concerned that frustrated parents are misusing a new "safe haven'' law that prevents prosecution when children are abandoned in a safe place.
"The intention of our legislation has always been to provide a mechanism for children who are in immediate danger of being harmed to have a safe place,'' said Todd Landry, director of Nebraska's Children and Family Services.
"These were other situations where the parents simply decided to give up.''
Mr Landry would not discuss the reasons why the eight families chose to give up their children.
"We think that to a certain degree the media coverage of these earlier events contributed to some of those other incidents,'' he said.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported that a 15-year-old boy was abandoned on September 13 because his aunt could not handle his behavioural problems.
She had already turned his four siblings over to foster homes in the five years since his mother died.
Another woman was fined for dropping off her 14-year-old son at a police station after he beat up his 13-year-old brother, because only hospitals are considered safe havens, the paper reported.
Mr Landry said that while he empathised with parents having trouble raising their children, "there's a right way and a wrong way to deal with that.".
"We just want our families to use the resources in the community and not abandon their kids,'' he said.
Nebraska was the last US state to pass a "safe haven'' law, which allows parents to abandon their children in a safe place - usually hospitals and police or fire stations - without fear of being prosecuted.
The laws were enacted in response to a number of high profile cases in the 1990s of infants dying after they were left in rubbish cans, abandoned cars, or places where they were exposed to the elements.
Many states grant anonymity to people who hand over infants at safe havens, but the majority only allow parents to abandon infants.
Nebraska's law, which took effect on July 18, has no such restriction, stating simply: "No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska.''
Legislators are now working to revise the law in order to prevent older children from being abandoned.
Three families abandoned 11 children at Nebraska hospitals as officials in the rural midwestern state scramble to respond to the sudden trend.
The family of nine children aged one to 17 - has brought the state's total to 16 children relinquished to state custody in 11 days.
Most of the children abandoned were teenagers.
Officials are concerned that frustrated parents are misusing a new "safe haven'' law that prevents prosecution when children are abandoned in a safe place.
"The intention of our legislation has always been to provide a mechanism for children who are in immediate danger of being harmed to have a safe place,'' said Todd Landry, director of Nebraska's Children and Family Services.
"These were other situations where the parents simply decided to give up.''
Mr Landry would not discuss the reasons why the eight families chose to give up their children.
"We think that to a certain degree the media coverage of these earlier events contributed to some of those other incidents,'' he said.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported that a 15-year-old boy was abandoned on September 13 because his aunt could not handle his behavioural problems.
She had already turned his four siblings over to foster homes in the five years since his mother died.
Another woman was fined for dropping off her 14-year-old son at a police station after he beat up his 13-year-old brother, because only hospitals are considered safe havens, the paper reported.
Mr Landry said that while he empathised with parents having trouble raising their children, "there's a right way and a wrong way to deal with that.".
"We just want our families to use the resources in the community and not abandon their kids,'' he said.
Nebraska was the last US state to pass a "safe haven'' law, which allows parents to abandon their children in a safe place - usually hospitals and police or fire stations - without fear of being prosecuted.
The laws were enacted in response to a number of high profile cases in the 1990s of infants dying after they were left in rubbish cans, abandoned cars, or places where they were exposed to the elements.
Many states grant anonymity to people who hand over infants at safe havens, but the majority only allow parents to abandon infants.
Nebraska's law, which took effect on July 18, has no such restriction, stating simply: "No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska.''
Legislators are now working to revise the law in order to prevent older children from being abandoned.
Source: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24405450-12377,00.html
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