| Safe Haven Law
So...Nebraska was one of the last states to enact a safe haven law. It went into effect within the last year, and the intent was for newborns and infants to be able to be taken to a hospital and left, without criminal charges against the parent.
I don't know all of the specifics, but when the law was drafted, the wording was changed from "infant" to "child". Again, not sure of the reasoning behind that. So...the safe haven law was used for the first time last week. A 15 year old boy was dropped off at a hospital by his grandmother, who was also legal guardian. Another hospital had an 11 year old dropped off...not sure who left that child.
So, obviously this wasn't the intent of the law, but becauase of the wording it was considered "legal". I feel so bad for the kids because clearly they are old enough to know what is going on. I believe the 15 year old was said to have "behavior problems" by his guardian. I haven't heard much on the 11 year old.
I agree that sometimes "the system" can make it difficult to get the necessary help, but I just can't believe that people resorted to this. How sad for everyone involved.
I don't have the answers, just wanted to vent a bit.
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