Word: childrened
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...just one or two. Nebraska found itself facing an epidemic of abandoned children after the legislature passed a law in July that allowed parents to leave their children at a safe place, like a hospital, without fear of prosecution. It was one of the last states in the country to pass such legislation - but the law contained a large loophole by including children of all ages. The legislature gathered on Friday in a special session to fix the safe-haven law. The day before, three more kids were abandoned at Omaha hospitals, bringing the total to 34 since mid-September...
...These parents had to be totally overwhelmed to do something like this," says the Rev. Steven Boes, president of Boys Town - the original safe haven of Father Flanagan fame, which happens to be headquartered in Omaha. Once upon a time, Depression-battered parents would buy bus fare for their children and hand them a sign that read "Take Me to Boys Town." Their counterparts today "are parents who have tried to navigate the system for years, and this is their last resort; these are parents who ran out of patience too darn fast and gave up too early, and everything...
...Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha. A medical social worker, she was on duty in the ER when some of the abandonments unfolded. "Some parents want us to threaten the child - they feel that would set them straight," she says. Some parents cry; others are merely angry. Some children begin to cry when they figure out what's going on, while others are hardened veterans of the foster-care system and "are used to these ups and downs...
Five of the children abandoned in Nebraska have been from out of state, but most are local. A majority of the children are older than 13 and have a history of being treated for mental-health issues. Nearly every abandoned child came from a single-parent household. In September, one father walked into a hospital and left nine children, ages 1 to 17. He reportedly told hospital workers that he'd been overwhelmed since his wife died a few days after their youngest was born...
Nebraska never wanted the attention that came with the heart-wrenching reports of desperate parents leaving sobbing children at hospitals, including little ones and unruly teenagers, under the state's new safe-haven law. "We were being ridiculed every day," says state senator Dianna Schimek of Lincoln, "but I have no apologies because something good will come of this. We uncovered something that we need to address. And it's not just Nebraska - it's widespread...