<p>"The latest cases came on the eve of a special session of the Legislature on Friday to add an age limit to the law. On Thursday, a boy, 14, and his 17-year-old sister were dropped off at an Omaha hospital; the girl ran away from the hospital, officials said. A 5-year-old boy was left by his mother at a different hospital, officials said.</p>
<p>The day before, a father flew in from Miami, Florida, to leave his teenage son at a hospital, officials said…</p>
<p>Nebraska’s safe haven law was intended to allow parents to hand over an infant anonymously to a hospital without being prosecuted. Of the 34 children who have been dropped off at hospitals, officials said not one has been an infant.</p>
<p>All but six have been older than 10, according to a Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services analysis.</p>
<p>State officials said because of legislative procedures it will take at least a week to change the language of the safe haven law, creating a window where more parents could try to take advantage of the loophole in the statute.</p>
<p>“We are ready and prepared that that situation occurs,” said Todd Landry of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. “We want people to understand that this is not the right way of getting the service for your child, your teenager or your family.”</p>
<p>Something is dreadfully wrong, and amending the law to lower the age limit for kids who qualify isn’t going to solve the problem of parents who are so overwhelmed or unloving that they’d abandon those kids.</p>
<p>What will go on with those kids if their parents can’t leave them at a Nebraska hospital?</p>
<p>Exactly…why limit it to infants? Just my opinion but doing it this way, the parent knows that their child will be taken care of.</p>
<p>“We want people to understand that this is not the right way of getting the service for your child, your teenager or your family.”</p>
<p>I’m sure there are so many agencies overwhelmed, overworked and underfunded that they aren’t able to provide full services and would have to turn families away.</p>
<p>That’s the problem. How many times have we read articles about some teen who did something horrible and the parents said they tried and tried to get appropriate help and couldn’t? The services aren’t as available as they need to be.</p>
<p>In my opinion, something needs to be done. I wish I knew what. (And how to pay for it.)</p>
<p>The one spotlighted case that I read was about a woman who tried to drop off her teenage daughter. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her, but she just couldn’t control her. The girl needed psychiatric help, but the mom couldn’t find a program to provide it.</p>
<p>I’ve watched to Nanny 911 shows on TV and find them fascinating. These professional ladies can come in, see what is wrong with the parents and their parenting skills and give them some help in that area. Sometimes it is a miracle what these people can do in a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>I think society would be well served with a Nanny 911 service and teach parents parenting skills while the kids are young. Unfortunately, society doesn’t get involved usually, until the kid goes to jail or run away–or the parents mistreat the kids. Or the kids get left in Nebraska.</p>
<p>The lady who tried to drop her kid off? Turns out that her kid was too old…</p>
<p>Raising kids is tough, tough work, even when circumstances are pretty good. Does anyone here think that raising kids, even those without any issues, is a piece of cake? Peel away your supports and think of how much tougher it would be without a spouse, with a handicap, with a mental health issue, without transportation, etc.</p>
<p>“We want people to understand that this is not the right way of getting the service for your child, your teenager or your family”</p>
<p>Why don’t you come out and suggest the right way of getting service then?</p>
<p>I am not a fan of the nanny but does she handle kids with bipolar, depression, autism, schizophrenia or families that are very poor or that are abusive? Or just your typical middle-class and upper-middle-class family with a lot of creature comforts?</p>
<p>I can totally see it. For those who have had an out of control teen, it is easier to understand how you can reach that point, especially if there are other children in the family that are endangered by the teen.</p>
<p>It is a tragedy. Not everyone can or should be a parent, sadly. Without support and intervention earlier on, we all end up paying much more in the long run (how much does a prisoner cost per year? a patient in the psych ward? a crack addicted baby? or the five children on welfare borne to the unstable teen mom?). </p>
<p>Moreover, some children are truly near impossible to survive with, even under the best of circumstances. Those that want to point fingers at these parents should spend a few months interacting with a child with attachment disorder. Holy cow. A friend of mine adopted her son and their life was a daily nightmare. This was a family who was educated, resourceful, connected and had money for many professionals. Yet the child couldn’t stay in school, was verbally and physically abusive, constantly arrested, hurting the other children. Imagine living with a child psychopath.</p>
<p>I expected to see post full of parent-bashing, but am so was happy to see all these insightful posts. I would hope that Nebraska’s law is showing everyone how desperate some parents are feeling.</p>
<p>Substance abuse treatment, psychiatric treatment, services for kids with severe autism or profound mental retardation, or serious physical disabilities: all these are expensive, hard to qualify for, hard to find, hard to get to the front of the waiting list. In some places, parents are secretly advised to abandon their children, so the state will step in.</p>
<p>This is not new. The only new part is hearing about a place where they can’t turn you away.</p>
<p>There really is little help for parents who have an out of control teenager or any child. If the family is burdened with other issues such as money problems, jobs, inadequate or no insurance, the alternatives are meager and inadequate. It is a really bad situation. Many families who have a troubled teen, let the problems occur because they do not know what to do and there is little out there. Schools present the problems to the parents, but really have few solutions.</p>