Dump your kids in Nebraska

[Okie Medicvet]

I really don't know how to feel about this, except saddened. While I have two kids, one 20 and the other 16, and have had my fair share of headaches and battles with them, to just be able to drop off a kid with no penalty leaves me saddened and yet I wonder if it is better to do that than to stay at a place where they are not wanted or valued..I mean, which is more damaging, to stay with family who either can't or won't cope, or to be dumped off at a set location where it can be legally done so like a bag of clothes that are no longer wanted so put in a goodwill bin?


2nd Out-of-State Teen Dumped in Omaha

By JEAN ORTIZ and JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (Oct. 13) - A Michigan mother drove roughly 12 hours to Omaha, so she could abandon her 13-year-old son at a hospital under the state's unique safe-haven law, Nebraska officials said Monday.
The boy from the Detroit area is the second teenager from outside Nebraska and 18th child overall abandoned in the state since the law took effect in July.

"I certainly recognize and can commiserate and empathize with families across our state and across the country who are obviously struggling with parenting issues, but this is not the appropriate way of dealing with them, whether you're in Nebraska or whether you're in another state," said Todd Landry, who heads the state's Department of Health and Human Services' division of children and family services.

There was no sign the boy was in immediate danger before he was abandoned, but an investigation into the boy's situation was still continuing, Landry said.
The boy has been placed in an emergency shelter. Landry said the family doesn't appear to have ties to Nebraska and he wasn't sure if the family had sought help in Michigan first.
State officials have met with the boy's mother, Landry said but wouldn't immediately address her reasons for leaving her son. He said he believed the boy's parents were married but wasn't sure if the father agreed to the decision.
"Regardless of why or how, our focus remains on the safety of the child," he said.

Creighton hospital spokeswoman Lisa Stites said she did not know any additional details about the boy abandoned at her hospital early Monday.
Last week, a 14-year-old girl from Iowa was left at an Omaha hospital by her grandparents. The girl has since been returned to her family.
Nebraska's safe-haven law is unlike similar laws in that it allows anyone, not just a parent, to drop off a child, of any age, at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution for abandonment. The law doesn't absolve anyone of other charges like abuse or neglect.

In Nebraska, several of the parents or guardians who have left children cited uncontrollable behavioral problems. An out-of-work widower who left nine of his 10 children said he simply felt overwhelmed by his responsibilities. That man, Gary Staton, has asked a judge to allow him to visit his children.
State officials have stressed that the safe-haven law should be used only for children in immediate danger; some worry the broadly written law could make the state a dumping ground for unwanted children.

State officials have said parents and caregivers need to understand there is no guarantee an abandoned child could be returned to them if they change their minds. The have encouraged parents to seek other resources before resorting to abandonment.
Lawmakers have spoken about the need to re-examine the law, but the Legislature doesn't reconvene until January. Gov. Dave Heineman has been reluctant to call a rare special session.

Landry declined to comment on whether a special session was needed, but he did say Monday that a new law is needed to specifically address infants in danger. Two children coming from out of state is clear evidence changes are needed, he said.
"We need to get back to the intent of the law," he said. "The intent of the law was always the protection of newborns in immediate danger of being harmed."

http://news.aol.com/article/2nd-out-of-state-teen-dumped-in-omaha/193761

[Da Raider]

I really don't know how to feel about this, except saddened. While I have two kids, one 20 and the other 16, and have had my fair share of headaches and battles with them, to just be able to drop off a kid with no penalty leaves me saddened and yet I wonder if it is better to do that than to stay at a place where they are not wanted or valued..I mean, which is more damaging, to stay with family who either can't or won't cope, or to be dumped off at a set location where it can be legally done so like a bag of clothes that are no longer wanted so put in a goodwill bin?


Yes, it's bad for the kids' pshyche, but could it be any worse than living in a home with your real parents who hate you and cannot stand raising you and only do so becuase it's against the law to dump you on the side of a freeway? Those kids are just as fucked up.

[Mr. Brown]

Shit I'm going to Nebraska and open up shelters for children, that's just good business.

[Morfin]

I, too, find it despicable that there are parents out there who would do this.

But, I believe that, in the long run, these children will likely be better off away from parents who do not want them, who abuse them, give them no love, and couldn't care less if they go to school or not.

Like Baby Jesus says, many of these kids will be messed up. But, however messed up they already may be -- and for many it will be too late -- there are still some that may be able to be saved. And may be able to be diverted from a life of crime or of state-dependance.

[Tar Heel]

I bet that Omaha's crime rate will be through the roof in 10 years.

[redsox39]

I bet that Omaha's crime rate will be through the roof in 10 years.

Well, here in Omaha (Actually it is a State Law) we are about sick of it. Negative Press is all we are getting for it. The Law was intended to prevent Teenage moms from dumping their babies in the trash can and going back to prom. (Abortions are still perfectly legal here!)

But some dip shit in the Unicameral (yes, we only have one house of government here, unique and special, I know) would pass this unless the age restriction was off. So now we got parents dropping off Litters of kids at a time. One man dropped off 9 kids. NINE KIDS! The oldest was 17!! SEVENTEEN? Really?

They need to restrict the age to 3 and under IMO, and fuck this out of state shit.

Just thought you'd like a local perspective from the land of quiet Billionaires.

[wacker]

I bet these kids hope Buffet is looking for some young blood

[redsox39]

Fuck, I have lived here for 28 years and my hope of hooking up with Buffet is running out...

[Da Raider]

Well, here in Omaha (Actually it is a State Law) we are about sick of it. Negative Press is all we are getting for it. The Law was intended to prevent Teenage moms from dumping their babies in the trash can and going back to prom. (Abortions are still perfectly legal here!)

But some dip shit in the Unicameral (yes, we only have one house of government here, unique and special, I know) would pass this unless the age restriction was off. So now we got parents dropping off Litters of kids at a time. One man dropped off 9 kids. NINE KIDS! The oldest was 17!! SEVENTEEN? Really?

They need to restrict the age to 3 and under IMO, and fuck this out of state shit.

Just thought you'd like a local perspective from the land of quiet Billionaires.

that 17 year old must be a real pain in the ass. One more year and the parent could have said, "You're an adult now, GTFO!"

[kid_vidrio]

I drove to Omaha and dropped a deuce as big as a kid while going cross country, but no kids. That's just wrong.

[Okie Medicvet]

One man dropped off 9 kids. NINE KIDS! The oldest was 17!! SEVENTEEN? Really?

I had read that in the article too, and don't know anymore about that but what was in that particular article, but it did also say that he was a recent widower in over his head, and had still wanted to be able to see his kids.

But heck, you wouldn't have to drive or drop of your kid anywhere in most states but they still have overflowing and many times incompetent, inadequate, or even outright neglectful and/or abusive foster homes, and all you would have to do would be to call the local or state "Department of Human Services", " Childrens Services Department", or what the fuck have you and the kids would be gone, and the departments are as varied in their ability to make any kind of positive change as the names and systems of running them are.

I know that the whole law began with moms being able to drop off infants without facing charges, but why should we value kids any less because they are older? I hate to say this, but I really feel that in our throwaway society, we treat our next generation horribly. If a child is an infant, there are couples lined up and willing to pay good money to get one, since they are a 'blank slate', but if a child is 5 with a 12 year old sibling and they don't want to be separated, that doesn't always matter, and instead of a couple paying money for a human life with a blank slate, a couple is PAID to "take care" of children in foster homes. It's a really fucked up system. What it needs is a massive overhaul from the top down and bottom up, because these social workers hired by the govt are overburdened, underpaid, and sometimes really don't know what the fuck kind of harm they are doing either with their ineptness or deliberate cruelty.

Look at the overwhelming evidence of how fucked up the lives are of kids who 'graduate' from the foster care system at 18 many of them end up homeless within a year or even less because they were shunted from place to place and not loved enough.

I'm sorry, but I just think that all these people against abortion need to prove how much they value human life by starting to take care of the people that are ALREADY HERE IN THIS WORLD. And we need to do SOMETHING to change entire structure of the social worker and foster care system, because the way it is just isn't fucking working, you know?

[redsox39]

I agree with you...almost.

What are we going to do with those kids? Who are you going to "force" to "love" them enough?

This is the real problem, and throwing money into the Foster care pit isn't going to help. I would rather have subsidized abortions.

On that note, if they paid me a 1 time fee of $1 Million dollars, I would love the shit out of that kid...

I wonder how much we end up paying per child... $1 million dollars, lump summed, can be stretched and invested into a comfortable life style. Background checks would have to be brutal though...

[Morfin]

It is hilarious that in today's Detroit paper, regarding the Michigan mom who dropped her teenager in Nebraska with $10 and some clothes, that a "child advocate" was quoted as saying,

One child advocate in Michigan said Tuesday he suspects the mother's desperation and flight to Nebraska are due to a lack of mental health services in Michigan.

"This shows there are some serious weaknesses in the mental health system in Michigan," said Jack Kresnak, former Free Press reporter, now president of Michigan's Children. "Parents find it hard to access mental health. There needs to be a more coordinated system between mental health and the juvenile courts." Link (http://www.freep.com/article/20081015/NEWS05/810150316)

Yep, that's right. It's a governmental failure. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the mother's lack of discipline or the kid being out of control or the mother being so self-centered that she wants to just dump the kid, it is all the government's fault. If only the government was better, better funded, better organized, it would take care of all our problems -- no personal responsibility at all. Life would be good.

I don't know if the mother, the kid, or both are to blame. But I do know it is not the government's fault.

[Okie Medicvet]

I don't know..I mean, I can see foster kids having a great need for mental health care, and a lot of times it just isn't there. And while I don't think that throwing money at a problem necessarily helps, I think it would help if kids who turn 18 after leaving a foster home and are out on their own should at the very least qualify for a full scholarship including dorms and expenses, so maybe they can learn a higher skilled job than a place where they always have to say 'do you want fries with that?'.

There is a lot to be said for volunteer work though..why not have something like a 'big brother/big sister' type program, where foster children and adult foster children have people that volunteer to help them out with figuring out the big bad world and how it works, since so many of them are so dysfunctional through no fault of their own.

If I was qualified, I would love to be a foster parent, but I have too many issues of my own. :(

And I would really love to put the pro life demonstrators feet to the fire by taking along a bunch of foster kids to the demonstration, and have them march against the pro-lifers, with signs saying "kids that are already here need love too" and "what about being pro-life for me even though I'm already born?" and stuff like that.

[IdiotBrain]

So you're saying you would rather let a human life be removed rather have the possibility it won't grow up to be a productive member of society?

I know plenty of girls who wanted abortions... didn't do it for whatever reason, and now are wonderful parents.

I also know plenty of girls who ended up getting abortions, only to end up regretting it for the rest of their years.

[Swurgen]

So you're saying you would rather let a human life be removed rather have the possibility it won't grow up to be a productive member of society?

I know plenty of girls who wanted abortions... didn't do it for whatever reason, and now are wonderful parents.

I also know plenty of girls who ended up getting abortions, only to end up regretting it for the rest of their years.

That's cause chix get their logic circuits ripped out during puberty. They replace them with extra emotional circuits.

[Hanover Fist]

Hmmm, I look at this as another important weapon in arsenal of the battle of wills against parents and children. Now if my kids start fucking up and getting lippy I can simply tell them they better shape up or I'll drop their ass off in Nebraska.
On second thought, with the way things in Michigan are going that might not be the threat I think it is.

[Okie Medicvet]

So you're saying you would rather let a human life be removed rather have the possibility it won't grow up to be a productive member of society?

No, I am saying that people that are against allowing a woman to choose need to worry more about the people that are already here more than ones that aren't born yet.

[DeMartini Sands]

Yes, it's bad for the kids' pshyche, but could it be any worse than living in a home with your real parents who hate you and cannot stand raising you and only do so becuase it's against the law to dump you on the side of a freeway? Those kids are just as fucked up.


So true my buddy growing up had parents like that, totally ignored that kid, keep food in the house, left weekly $$ for him, and the deal was that he wasn't to be heard or seen. When he graduated from high school my mom hosted his graduation party. His parents used to pay mine to take care of him for months at a time, while they traveled. Sad stuff....

[mongo]

i'm a little surprised your parents didn''t pay somebody to take you out back and put one in the back of your head. would've done everyone a favor.