In July, Nebraska passed a law that would allow parents to drop off their unwanted infants at a safe and secure location like a hospital or police station, no questions asked. Since then, the state has accepted 21 kids, three of them from out of state. Not one of them has been an infant.
Because no age limit was written into the law, kids of any age (up to 18) can fall into the Safe Haven Law.
The latest case was a twelve-year-old boy whose mother drove all the way from Georgia to desert him. One father from Omaha dropped off NINE of his ten children.
What does this do to a preteen or teenager’s self esteem? How does it feel to know that you just failed as a son or daughter, to know that you’re not good enough, to know that you aren’t as good as your brother? I can’t imagine the literal sense of abandonment and worthlessness.
No amount of therapy can undo the damage their sorry excuse for parents had done. At least those nine from Omaha have each other. Their relationship with each other will be stronger in the face of the new obstacles they will have to overcome. But that is still a small comfort in comparison.
But there is hope for other kids whose parents plan to drop them in the proverbial dumpster. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman has said that the law should be amended to apply only to infants. I can only hope they do so soon.
But in the end, I have to say one thing: fuck those parents. Those parents probably didn’t deserve their kids in the first place. Where those unfortunate kids end up will probably be better and more loving than the place they once thought they could call home.
Wow, that is alarming. What's worse (and sorry for so pessimistically pointing out these types of things), is that those nine siblings will undoubtedly be separated as they are sent to different foster families.
I'll try to find a glimmer of optimism here, too... obviously, these kids' parents were not very good. They may very well be better off without them.
I think someday I'd like to adopt children. A lot of adoptive parents in America get their kids from overseas, which rubs me the wrong way a little, since there are certainly plenty of children in this country who need better parents and better homes.
So on top of getting abandoned by their parents, they're gonna split them up as well. Wonderful. Whose bright idea was it to not put an age limit on the bill? Somebody's gonna get hurt real bad.
It just pisses me off that there are parents out there like that. I mean, I've had my experiences with parental douchebaggery, but this is beyond my comprehension.
One short sleepe past wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
-John Donne
I have to wonder what the thinking was behind the parents' decision to abandon their children. Did they think it was the humane option because they thought they would be guaranteed care upon abandonment? Or did they just want to ditch their kids?
And how did these people figure out the loophole in the law? Especially the people from out of state? It seems like they must have really been looking for a way out of parenting. I mean, they can't have been destitute if they scrounged up enough gas money to drive in from states away.
Common sense is as rare as genius. ~Emerson
Colorado November Ballot Measure to Legally Define a Fertilized Egg as a Person
We talked a little bit about this in my Child Abuse and Neglect class....
Apparently the dad who dropped off his nine kids recently lost his wife. His "reason" for dropping off the kids was that he was not fit to care for nine children on his own.
I'm with Donne here.... if abandonment isn't a form of abuse/neglect, I don't know what is. Those poor kids. "Daddy doesn't want me..."
One of the kids was like 16 or 17 if I remember right. What a crock. I don't even know what to say about it. :idk:
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Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off. [Ellen Degeneres]