So, Nebraska was the very last state to pass a safe haven law. The point of the law is to allow women to leave their newborn babies at a hospital...if they have no intention of keeping that child, without having any legal repurcussion against him/her. This law is intended to prevent the horror stories of finding newborn babies in trash cans and the like after a mother decides that is the best fate for that child.
Well, Nebraska is kind of slow with these things, and they finally passed the law in the past year (i don't know the exact date). Anyway, the Nebraska law is a bit unique, because in the law it states "child". Therefore, there is a bit of a loophole...and people have been taking advantage of it. Just this week, a father dropped off his 9 children (ranging from age 1-17) at Creighton Hospital in Omaha. Why? Well, he couldn't take care of them anymore after his wife died last year after giving birth to their 10th child.
A couple weeks ago a mother took her 13 year old child to a hospital because he was "having behavioral problems" and she couldn't handle it anymore. Since the law has been enacted...a total of 16 "children" have been surrendered to hospitals by their parents and/or guardians.
I think this is horrible. My sister disagrees. She says these parents have already abandoned the children...so why not give the children a chance somewhere else. I understand where she is coming from...but this man who left his 9 children, it sounds like he just couldn't handle it because he was alone. It's not because he beat them, or didn't love them. Clearly he does love them...but do they really have a better chance at becoming "normal" or outstanding citizens by living their lives out in Foster Care. A system paid for by the state...which is also one of the WORST ranked foster care systems in the country.
I'm just disgusted. It leads me to my end all when it comes to children and states paying for families to raise their kids. Comprehensive Sex Education! I know that's a huge leap, but people need to understand your kid isn't going to be an angel, and having children isn't always going to be easy and fun. Yes, I feel horrible for these people...but they need to realize there are other options out there...non-profit agencies who want to help struggling families with raising outstanding citizens. Abandoning your child is not the solution...it just causes more problems.
2 comments:
I like the safe haven law for newborns, even up to a year or maybe 2 after that it is abandonment in my eyes. Even if it is out of love. If Bob dies tomorrow I can't take care of the kids as well both financially and mentally. Should I just go give my babies up? Older kids will know what happened and why you did it but does that make it any better? Gosh, some of us still have abandonmet issues from a divorce! Can you imagine what those kids who actually were given up would feel? and you make a great point about the foster care. I've seen some really bad ones and I wonder how the hell they got accepted. Some are just in it for the money much like many daycares. THere are other options, maybe that should be part of the safe haven law for the older kids who's parents just don't want them because of the obligation. I do feel for the man with the 9 kids but I don't necessarily think that giving them up is giving them a better chance. And I love your comprehensive sex education. Give me some teenagers who are full of themselves. I'll let them be the parent for an undetermined amount of time and then we'll see how quick they are to jump into bed. Parenting is hard especially in hard times but You had sex, you had the kids you raise them. I guess I just think that these kids will feel worse after losing both parents and one chose to leave them. Older kids should not be included in the safe haven law in my opinion.
BTW, how do you get to link in just one word. I can't do it.
highlight the word you want the link to be in, than there is a tab with a chain link in your blog that you click, and add the link. Does that make sense?
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