Recently, I have read an article online about a 17 year old girl running away from Methodist Hospital. Her mother took both her, and her 14 year old brother to the hospital when she decided she couldn't take care of them anymore. I personally think that many parents are beginning to take advantage of the law. It was said that a lot of parents are rushing to drop their kids off before the law changes to only being allowed to take children under a certain age.
This summer there were 34 children dropped off. Most being preteens and teenagers as old as 17. Nebraska is the only state that allows parental abandonment at any age without criminal prosecution. Lawmakers are leaning towards the idea of setting an age limit of either one month or one year for a child to be legally abandoned by its parents or guardians.
I feel that lowering the age limit is a good idea for more than one reason. If I were abandoned by my parents I would feel worthless. It would be hard for me to trust, or be able to make friends with anyone in fear of loosing them. If a child was dropped off at the hospital because they already had mental problems that their parents/guardians could not deal with anymore, I would think that the feeling of abandonment and the unwanted feeling would only cause more emotional mental issues.
Again, I am in favor of making an age limit on the law. The more time a child has to spend with their parent/guardian, the more time they have to make a connection with them. It is the parents responsibility to get their children help, not give up and abandon them.
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7 comments:
Leave it to Nebraska to do something right and then go and change it...
I think that the implementation of the law has shown a serious defficiency in available help for parents of older kids that need help. Unless and until the hole in services (whether from government or charity) is fixed, the Safe Haven Law is an undesireable necessity.
I definitely was against the Safe Haven Law in it's initial implementation, for the reasons you state here. However, recent arguments not to lower the age limit have got me wondering if that would really such a bad thing.
I read an article in the paper the other day about a 5-year-old boy who definitely needed help, and whose mother needed it, perhaps even more.
I think other alternatives should be considered, but there are children out there who truly are a danger to themselves and to others, and parents who can't take care of them.
This new law has brought to light a whole slew of new problems. I don't think anyone really knows what the answer is, but maybe the Safe Haven Law as it is now should not be so quickly written off as a failure.
It is really difficult to think who's most responsible for these. I was talking to an adult about these after reading it and the first thing he said was "I like it." He then explained that it is completely the child's fault because they are those who are completely blown up and refused to listen to their parents. Sadly, it does affect the child greatly. Parents have done "all" they can to keep their child under control but nothing worked.
Too go in more depth on the five year old Jesus Fish was talking about. The mother of the child came to be his parent when a woman begging for money asked her to hold her child while she went shopping for groceries. The beggar woman never returned. The child has bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and a drug addiction. Obviously she wanted to give the child help that she couldn't provide. The fact that so many children are being dropped of is alarming and should be addressed. I believe that the state of Nebraska has begun an investigation to adress this problem.
Like LovableLoser said, the Safe Haven Law has exposed the holes in the system for the older children. Yes, by all means, "fix" the current status of the law, but please go back and reconsider others that have to do with teens and older children. Just because they can walk and speak does not mean that they aren't in need of a "safe haven" too.
The first time somebody posted an article about the Nebraska Safe Haven Law, I was all for changing it. I thought parents were abusing the law. However, now I have changed my mind. I honestly believe nobody would use the law if they weren't in dire need of help. I listened to a woman on the news debating whether or not to drop her son off before the opportunity was up. Her child had become increasingly violent, threatening others and had even beat up a mentally challenged student at his school. She had tried so many different things and not one of them had worked.
Parents like this cannot do it on their own, they need help and I understand why they would feel the need to abandon their child, for the good of the family and everyone else involved.
The point of the Safe Haven Law was to stop parents leaving their babies on doorsteps or around town so that no one will know they had a baby. This law gives them somewhere to drop off their kid and not have to get into the legal matters. I understand that there are cases when the parents can't take care of there kids because of financial or medical reasons but what happened to adoption? If you are able to raise a kid for at least five years you should be responsible enough to go through the adoption process.
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