Constitutional Law

Neb. Lawmakers Call For Changing State's 'Safe Haven' Law

Nebraska’s governor and lawmakers are likely to re-write a “safe haven” law that protects from prosecution parents or guardians who abandon to state authorities minors of up to18-years-old. The New York Times reported recently that the state’s law aimed at preventing newborn babies from being abandoned by parents has resulted in increasing instances of older children being left in state care. The Nebraska law does not include a cutoff-age. Most states’ laws, as The Times reported, apply to infants. Recently a single father turned over nine children to Nebraska authorities saying that he could not cope with the recent death of his wife. In a press conference announcing plans to amend the safe haven law, Gov. Dave Heineman (R) said the law has “had serious, unintended consequences” and that the original intent of the law was to “focus on infants.” State lawmakers said that the law should be altered to give protection from prosecution of parents or guardians abandoning newborns of up to three days old.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on October 22, 2008 (boomark / email).