Miscellaneous

OK, Now It's Getting Out of Hand

Since a poorly drafted "safe haven" law went into effect in Nebraska this past summer, 21 teenaged kids have been abandoned by their parents at area hospitals.The law was meant to allow parents of infants to drop them off in a safe and secure place -- similar laws have been enacted in a number of states and many foreign countries.

However, due to the lack of an age limit in the legislation, lawmakers were surprised to learn that the law protects parents of older children, too. While work on an amendment is already underway, as word has spread of the unique law, parents have been coming from far and wide to avail themselves of the opportunity to get rid of their kids. Its easy to make light of this, but whether parents are making the decision to abandon their children on the basis of economic realities, interpersonal or behavioral issues, or for other, more selfish reasons, its pretty sobering to consider what it would mean in the life of a preteen or teenager to be left on the stoop at the E.R.

Most recently, a mother drove all the way from Georgia to leave her 12-year old son at a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on October 27, 2008 (boomark / email).