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Nebraska Safe Haven Law Cases RiseLegal Child Abandonment Protecting Children from Abuse and Neglect
Recent spikes in the number of children left at hospitals across the U.S. lead some to question the benefits of safe surrender laws. Others find the programs essential.
It is a legal trend that has taken quiet root across most of the nation over the last decade. Caregivers are permitted to leave their infants and children at designated locations, such as hospitals, police and fire stations, without risk of reprisal. These laws, broadly referred to as safe haven laws, vary subtly in name and interpretation from state to state. According to the National Safe Haven Alliance, laws decriminalizing the surrender of children have been active in fifty U.S. states as of February of this year. The District of Columbia, the final hold-out, has yet to adopt legislation on the issue. Nebraska Becoming Poster Child for Abandoned ChildrenEyebrows rose along the news wires when the Associated Press reported recently that on Wednesday, September 24th, a single father in Omaha, Nebraska surrendered nine of his ten children. Under the state's version of safe haven law, the man is protected from prosecution for child abandonment since he left the children at Creighton University Medical Center's emergency room, a designated local site for such drop-offs. The widower, who says he quit his job due to parental responsibilities following the recent death of his wife, cited his inability to deal emotionally or financially with managing a large family on his own as cause for surrendering his children who range in age from 1 to 17. Implications for Foster Care and AdoptionOstensibly, an increase in the number of legal guardians who abandon their children under safe haven laws will lead to more children eligible for foster care and adoption. Legislators such as Sen. Pete Pirsch of Nebraska, are among proponents who believe that legalizing surrender also results in fewer incidents of child abuse, neglect, unsafe abandonment, abortion, and in the worst cases, infanticide. The validity of such statements, though difficult to quantify, have garnered overwhelming support from state policy makers. Cases such as that of Julian (Martin) Ornelas, 3, who was abandoned in a Wal Mart by his mother, Julia Ornelas in June of this year, or that of a 14-year-old Cedar Bayou Junior High School student who earlier this year killed her newborn child during an attempt to flush the infant down a school toilet, are often referenced during debates about the efficacy of safe haven laws. Should Child Abandonment Be a Crime?In a shift in the relative bipartisan support enjoyed by legalized abandonment policies, Nebraska lawmakers are now calling for changes to the state's interpretation of who qualifies as a child under the law. Nebraska is currently the sole safe haven state allowing for abandonment of children who are over the age of 1. Critics say that increased surrender of difficult teens will come as a direct result of this Nebraska law.
The copyright of the article Nebraska Safe Haven Law Cases Rise in Children's Rights is owned by Cheron Taylor. Permission to republish Nebraska Safe Haven Law Cases Rise in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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