By Nate Jenkins
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska lawmakers have approved adding a 30-day age limit to a safe-haven law that resulted in 35 children — including teenagers as old as 17 — being abandoned at state hospitals.
Gov. Dave Heineman was expected to sign the bill later Friday, and the law would go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Nebraska will join 13 other states with a 30-day age cap. It has been the only state with a safe-haven law that lacks an age limit.
“I think this solves the immediate problem of adolescents being abandoned,” said Sen. Kent Rogert. “These kids are old enough to know they’re being dropped off, and that’s not good.”
The law was meant to prevent newborns from being dumped in trash bins or worse. But it has been used to abandon 35 children at state hospitals since July — many of them preteens or teenagers as old as 17.
Five of the children have been from other states as far away as Florida and Michigan.
Lawmakers, health officials, child welfare experts and even parents who abandoned their children under the law say it shows a lack of services for families in crisis, and a difficulty in obtaining what services exist.
Lawmakers are vowing to make sure families can get help in a crisis.
Some parents who have stopped short of dropping off children say they sympathize with those who have.
Therese Guy of Papillion said she became a foster parent to a boy who had previously committed a sexual offense. She said it took nine months to get his mental problems diagnosed.
“It was just that booked up to get him into a center,” Papillion said earlier this week. “Don’t change the safe-haven law until you have other changes in place, because it’s helping kids now.”
While there is an outcry by some lawmakers and child-welfare experts for the state to fix a safety net they say is broken, some question how much government can do to solve the problems.
“There are going to be things beyond our reach,” said Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh. “The government can’t replace a parent.”