Word: mentality
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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...
...Friday to change the law to cover newborns up to three days old only. He expects a debate on whether to expand coverage for the first year of a child's life, which some states do. "We'll be looking at the bigger issues next year," he promised. "Mental illness, the behavioral-health workforce, caseworker loads...
While Governor Dave Heineman is pushing to limit the rewritten law to newborns of 72 hours, some lawmakers are saying that the abandonments have exposed an urgent need to fix gaping holes in the state's mental-health services, which they claim fail to assist families with little resources to help problem children. Senator Annette Dubas introduced an alternate bill that would retain a safe haven for parents with kids ages 1 to 15 through June 2009 so that the legislature could address the broader issues come January. "Do not forget those struggling families," she urged her colleagues...
Even though Governor Heineman is likely to accept a law that applies to infancy, the broader issue of childhood mental illness did have its hearing. A majority of the kids abandoned had a history of mental illness - 90% of the parents or guardians had sought state services for them before. Many had at least one parent in jail. One big hole in the safety net, said Dr. Jane Theobald, an Omaha psychiatrist and representative for the Nebraska Psychiatric Association, is that there are simply not enough facilities for troubled youngsters. A teenager who attempts suicide might stay at a general...
...Steven Boes, president of Boys Town, didn't bother to attend Monday's hearing because he thinks little can be done on the big issues of mental health. He says he'll be back in Lincoln in January "to strike while the iron is hot" when legislators are scheduled to debate privatizing behavioral health services for troubled adolescents. Meanwhile, Boes had good news for Tysheema Brown. The priest said he's working with Georgia alumni to get her housing and find her son a spot, hopefully in Omaha...