Strollerderby : Safe Haven Laws

Teen Mom Must Visit Cemetery for Abandoning Baby

JeanneSager — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:33:00 GMT

The sixteen-year-old mother of a baby abandoned at a South Carolina fire department has to visit a cemetery, mortuary and a maternity ward, get her GED and a long list of other requirements. The baby's father, a twenty-one-year-old who graduated from high school, has a shorter list - but he'll have to make the rounds with his girlfriend.

The couple, who have an eleven-month-old baby and a two-year-old toddler at home, apparently left their newborn at a firehouse because they knew they couldn't care for the six-hour-old baby. Firehouses meet safe haven criteria under South Carolina law, but the couple failed to give the baby to an actual person at the firehouse - which means they've been facing felony charges for leaving the child on the doorstep in the cold weather.

The mother is being charged as a juvenile - she turned seventeen just days after the incident - and the father as an adult. She reportedly hasn't gone past the ninth grade in high school, and part of the suggestions from Seventh Circuit Solicitor Trey Gowdy as part of her juvenile arbitration is a requirement that the girl return to school to get a diploma or at least pass the GED exam.

Gowdy says the couple did at least make an attempt to abandon the baby properly, which takes them out of the realm of parents who shake their babies to death or simply abandon the baby in garbage can. But he wants them to see what could have happened if the baby hadn't been found on that doorstep: hence the visits to the mortuary and cemetery. His list also includes parenting classes (phewww), reproductive counseling (considering she would have been what, fourteen when she first got pregnant, and he was nineteen - three kids ago?), and meetings with the representative who pushed for the South Carolina safe haven law and an adoption law specialist.

Here's hoping the judge in the case takes Gowdy up on the suggestions - there's an obvious lack of common sense between these two, but at the very least, they tried to do the right thing. What they need now isn't a ten-year sentence behind bars, but some smartening up and some birth control.

Source: WYFF

Image: Safe Haven Maternity

Kids: The World's Best Form of Birth Control

One in Five Teens Having Tech Sex

Teen Girl's Mom Throws Prostitution Party

They Say: Forward-Facing Stroller's Bad for Baby

The Trouble with Safe Haven Laws: Some Thoughts for National Adoption Month

Shannon LC Cate — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The recent spate of older child and even teen abandonments in Nebraska under its non-age-specific (but soon to be made age-specific) "safe haven" law has called such laws into question among people who had not previously given them much thought. The abandonments have also raised serious questions about the quality and availability of assistance to families in trouble.

In some quarters, there has long been opposition to safe haven laws, regardless of the age limits they include.

Ethicanet.org, an organization committed to being "an impartial voice for ethical adoption practices worldwide" has a strong statement opposing safe haven laws. While that may sound counterintuitive, Ethica's argument is quite compelling. In addition to finding a lack of evidence that the laws have prevented any dangerous or deadly child abandonments, Ethica believes that:

"[T]hese laws do nothing to address the crisis situations birth parents are faced with that lead them to take such desperate measures....Instead, the laws are far more likely to be used by those who would not have otherwise abandoned a child or by those who unscrupulously want to avoid a paper trail for reasons that have nothing to do with child welfare...There are no safeguards to ensure that the person abandoning the child is actually the mother or father of the child. The child could be abandoned by a controlling grandparent or an abusive boyfriend...a mother could abandon a baby without the consent of the father, who might have chosen to parent the child or to have the child cared for by family members."

There is concern among ethical adoption advocates that the safe haven laws simply open up a loophole through which unscrupulous, possibly black-market baby brokers can slip away from legal oversight. But as an adoptive mother whose children have access to their first ("birth") mothers, the issue that most concerns me about these laws is the effect they ultimately have on the children abandoned anonymously.

Ethica points out that the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child insist that children's identifying information be protected whenever possible, not to mention that governments do everything possible to preserve original families and see that children be raised within them as a preference to adoption by "strangers." To deprive children of "access to information regarding their families, their heritage, their culture, and the circumstances surrounding their birth" is to deny them their basic human rights while also harming them by removing all chance of knowing their family medical history or of having a relationship with biological family members in years to come, should both parties desire it.

This lack of records for the abandoned child is what most trouble Bastard Nation, the advocacy organization for adopted people, which has long lobbied for the opening of court-sealed adoption records at the request of adult adoptees:

"Bastard Nation believes that it is no coincidence that Safe Haven laws have been enacted just as the efforts of Bastard Nation and other adoptee civil rights activists have begun to overturn archaic state laws which seal our records from us....Safe Haven laws, we believe, are simply a tool to codify secret relinquishment and adoption."

Ethica recommends that rather than spending money on passing, establishing and promoting safe-haven laws, states use those resources to educate and counsel women in crisis pregnancies, to assist families in desperate circumstances and to improve healthcare and access to it.

Obviously I realize that there are times when children must be adopted by "strangers" as my own children were. I also realize that in some times and places, circumstances are such that children are abandoned and lose access to personal information most human beings take for granted. But these are tragedies and should not be encouraged or promoted by laws that are supposed to increase the safety and well being of children. This country does have the resources to prevent most child abandonments through health and family services. When adoption is necessary we should be putting those resources towards ethical adoptions that are truly in our precious children's best interests.

If You Don't Behave, We'll Send You to Nebraska!

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:34:00 GMT

Now that it's decided to add an age limit to its "safe haven" law, Nebraska is bracing for another rush of abandoned teens, left there by parents who say they just can't handle their children anymore. Originally intended to provide a safe place for parents (usually teen mothers) to drop off newborns, the law was meant to curb neglect, abuse and infanticide. But its unintended consequence has been to enshrine Nebraska as the place to bring -- and leave -- your troubled older child. According to reports from the state's Department of Health and Human Services, 28 of the 34 kids left at hospitals under the new law have been older than ten.

From the CNN article:

State Sen. Tom White said lawmakers have been caught off-guard by the number of teenagers taken in under the law. "What you've seen is an extraordinary cry for help from people all across the country," White said. "Nebraska can't afford to take care of all of them. Nebraska would like to be able to, but they know that we can't so we are going to have to change the law."

Lawmakers are meeting today to amend the law, adding an age limit to restrict the drop-offs to infants, particularly newborns. But it'll take a week or so for the new law to take effect, and that's what has Nebraska hospitals worried.

As the mother of a toddler and a teenager, I can testify that both try my patience on a daily basis, and both of them are relatively healthy and "normal," whatever that means. The children left at hospitals under the Nebraska law (most of them from Nebraska, but five from out of state) have, for the most part, suffered from some very serious problems -- most have received mental health servies, most have been incarcerated -- and their parents clearly were at the ends of some very long ropes. Still, it is almost impossible to imagine reaching a place where one would voluntarily give up one's child.

My fear, beyond the local and immediate one facing Nebraska officials right now, is that this is only going to get worse -- as our economic crisis deepens, as unemployment climbs, as insurance companies continue to inadequately support mental health services, more and more families will find themselves breaking under the strain. I'm glad Nebraska is rewriting its law to bring it back to the intended purpose. But I hope the new administration will be able to effect changes in our economy and society so that families of troubled older kids will be able to find their own safe havens.

Related: Morning News

The Trouble With Safe Haven Laws: Some Thoughts For National Adoption Month

Nebraska to Abandon Abandonment Law

Madeline Holler — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:02:00 GMT

Not a single unwanted newborn was brought into a Nebraska hospital after the state passed its safe haven law. Instead, 18 children, ranging in age from 22 months to 17 years old, were abandoned by parents or guardians -- some of whom even came from out of state. The law, which failed to put a cap on the age of children the state would accept, apparently embarrassed the governor and lawmakers, particularly after a widower dropped of nine of his 10 kids last month.

Now, state leaders are hoping to turn one of the most lenient safe haven laws into one of the most restrictive.

They have agreed to amend the language of the law to limit anoymous, no-questions abandonment to parents of babies who are three or fewer days old.

The governor is hoping to get the law amended without calling a special session -- or leaving too much time for a flood of tweens and teens to come in. Health and Human services is spending $100,000 to promote a helpline for frustrated parents and guardians. They're also sending letters to adoptive parents and guardians of former state wards listing phone numbers and websites for agencies that can help them.

They are also reminding Nebraskans of Boys Town, a famous home for troubled youth.

What do you think? Is this a good thing? Is this enough? Is three days old a too restrictive age limit?

Dad Dumps Nine Kids Under Nebraska Safe Haven Law

Nebraska Dad Who Dumped 9 Kids Speaks Out

Teen Abandoned in Nebraska Goes Back Home to Iowa

Grandma Takes In 7 of 9 Abandoned Kids

Morning News: Oprah Makes an Election Eve Comeback!

Photo: foxnews.com

Teen Abandoned in Nebraska Goes Back Home to Iowa

Madeline Holler — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:31:00 GMT

So the other day, yet another teen was abandoned at a Nebraska hospital. Problem was, she and her guardians were from a town in nearby Iowa.

This led some to wonder if they could press charges against the Iowa family, since this was a state law. In any case, the grandparents of the 14-year-old girl changed their minds and went back to pick her up today. The grandparents, who adopted the girl and would only say they abandoned her because of "supervision issues," won't be charged.

But this has sent Nebraska lawmakers into panic mode. They have to decide whether their safe haven law, which defined no clear age restrictions, has turned into a teen abandonment program. Of the 17 children (person under the age of 19) dropped off, only four have been under 10 years old.

Seems like Nebraska ought to work on some other kind of program to help desperate families.

Safe haven laws were meant to save newborn babies' lives. But it looks like there's an entirely different group out there who really needs help.

Morning News: Oprah Makes an Election Eve Comeback!

Nebraska Dad Who Dumped 9 Kids Speaks Out

Grandma Takes In 7 of 9 Abandoned Kids

Finally, Some Good News from Nebraska

Dad Dumps Nine Kids Under Nebraska Safe Haven Law

Nebraska Dad Who Dumped 9 Kids Speaks Out

Madeline Holler — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:47:00 GMT

So that guy who took advantage of Nebraska's safe haven law and dumped his nine kids, ages 1 to 17, off at a hospital? He's speaking out. He said his life fell apart last year when his wife died -- after giving birth to their youngest child.

The widower also said he still loves his children, but that he couldn't care for them properly. "I hope they know I love them," Gary Staton told KETV. "I hope their future is better without me around them."

Here's why he says he took advantage of Nebraska's law, which allows parents to abandon, without questions or penalty, a child up to 19 years old who is in their custody:

After his wife died, he quit his job to take care of the five boys and four girls. So he couldn't pay his rent, utilities, or feed the family. He said he didn't think he could raise the kids without his wife and that he wanted them to be safe.

Stanton has a 10th child, an 18-year-old daughter who graduated from high school early. She was not a part of the drop off.

I'm overwhelmed just thinking about this family's situation. Here are some questions: what about Nebraska laws kept him from getting help with his rent? With that many kids, you'd think he'd qualify for any and every program out there. Plus, mental health? Did anybody check up on this guy?

Finally, I'm sitting here feeling super sorry for him and the entire family but of course, buzzing in the back of my mind was, why such a big family? But putting that aside, I wonder too: had it been the other way around -- dad died and mom chose to abondon the kids, I wonder what the sentiment would be?

Oh, and now that so many older kids are being abandoned in Nebraska, lawmakers are thinking of amending the law. What? That'll make these families' problems go away?

What do you think of this situation?

Photo: creightonhospital.com

Teen and Tween Legally Abandoned Under New Law

Madeline Holler — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:29:00 GMT

It is hard to argue with a law that allows parents to abandon their babies safely at a hospital, firehouse, etc., no questions asked. Especially considering the alternatives.

But when Nebraska lawmakers passed a bill that basically didn't limit the age -- tweens and teens were allowed, too -- I have to admit: I guffawed. Nobody's going to "anonymously" drop off children old enough to recite their phone numbers and point the direction home!

But get this: a couple of people did. Two boys -- 15 and 11! -- were left at Nebraska hospitals this past weekend. They are the first to be legally abandoned under the state's new law.

The teenager was dropped off by his 44-year-old aunt (his legal guardian). She said he has behavioral problems that she could no longer manage. The 11-year-old was dropped off by his mother, who said she believed she could no longer care for him. Authorities say neither showed signs of abuse or neglect.

What do you think? Heartbreaking? Outrageous? Or symptoms of a bigger problem. I mean, why didn't these women have more support for raising kids with behavioral problems? Where is the assistance for these types of special needs? Or is there plenty of assistance and these women just didn't care enough?

Should it be Legal to Abandon Your Kids?

Elderly Man Rescues Abandoned Baby

Mom Leaves Kids in a Jersey Parking Lot

Photo: bbc.co.uk

Four Teens Save a Baby

Amy Kuras — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:15:00 GMT

As somebody who went through infertility, I seethe at these kinds of stories – but this one has a twist that makes it aactually kinda heartwarming.

A baby thrown away like so much trash was rescued by four teenage boys Monday afternoon in Queens. One of them heard a noise when they were walking by a dumpster, and well, I'll let him tell it:

"I saw a baby in a brown bag with a white face and black hair, I couldn't believe it. I broke the bag open and I said, 'Oh, s- - -!' and I called the boys over," Louis Cordero, a 19-year-old barber, said.

His friends Gabriel Mercedes and Christopher Moncada, both 16, skateboarded over to the nearest police precinct to get help. I know fully-grown people without this much common sense and presence of mind so I am really impressed with these guys, including Christopher's brother Brian, 13.

The baby, who hospital workers dubbed Christina because she was found so close to Christmas, was two or three weeks premature. Had the young men not found her and been able to figure out what to do, she would have died in the next two to three hours, said doctors at Elmhurst Hospital.

Police are looking for the mother. According to Christopher Moncada, the bag was upside down over her head as if whoever put the baby in the trash bin attempted to suffocate her.

New York, like many states, has a ''safe haven" law which shields a mother from prosecution if she leaves her newborn with an "appropriate person" within five days of birth.

Photo: New York Post

Teething Ring and Run: Grandmother Charged With Abandoning Newborn

makeitadouble — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:27:00 GMT

What holiday season would be complete without the obligatory animated stop-motion pseudo-claymation onslaught of Rankin-Bass Musical Christmas Specials on television? My personal favorite, though I hate to admit it, is the middle child between Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Year Without a Santa Claus about the origins of the jolly old elf himself called Santa Claus in Coming To Town.

A poignant tale about an infant abandoned on the doorstep of the Burgermeister Meisterburger, who callously orders the child be taken to the orphanage. Through a confluence of natural elements the basket containing the infant comes to rest on another doorstep, this time of an elf family named Kringle and the baby eventually grows up to become Santa Claus. What a message of hope and inspiration, that an unwanted child abandoned on a doorstep could one day grow to become Father Christmas. But not all newborns left on doorsteps in the harshness of winter become omniscient symbols of the holiday spirit for millions of children around the world.

Sometimes newborns abandoned on doorsteps in the harshness of winter almost die.

A 35-year old grandmother was arrested for abandoning her 17 year old daughter’s newborn son on a doorstep wrapped only in a blanket to protect him against the sub-freezing temperatures. The mother of the abandoned baby evidently hid the pregnancy from her own mother, Jaquelyn Bethea, and when she gave birth on November 8 her mother convinced her to give the baby up.

Important to note here is that Pennsylvania has enacted Safe Haven laws which allow newborns to be anonymously dropped off at a hospital without repercussion for up to 28 days after the child is born. So why didn’t Mrs. Bethea simply bring the newborn to a hospital instead of heartlessly leaving him to die from exposure in a stranger’s doorway you may ask. Evidently the young grandmother did go to the hospital but left because it was too crowded.

Before he was discovered the baby boy spent over an hour outside dropping his body temperature to 95-degrees. "He really could have died that night. His rescue was really death defying," said a Montgomery County assistant district attorney.

Kudos goes out to the Abington Police Department for using surveillance footage from a Target where the baby’s clothing was purchased to identify the grandmother and also to the good people at Abington Hospital for saving the life of this innocent child.

The boy, now known as Baby Jonathon, has since been released into the custody of Montgomery County Children and Youth Services. Though in the beginning Baby Jonathon you were cold and alone, my hopes for you are that you will find the warmth you deserve in the love of a family that will never let you go.

Strollerderby : Safe Haven Laws

Teen Mom Must Visit Cemetery for Abandoning Baby

Students Watch Autopsy of Teen From School

Kids: The World's Best Form of Birth Control

One in Five Teens Having Tech Sex

Teen Girl's Mom Throws Prostitution Party

They Say: Forward-Facing Stroller's Bad for Baby

The Trouble with Safe Haven Laws: Some Thoughts for National Adoption Month

If You Don't Behave, We'll Send You to Nebraska!

Nebraska to Abandon Abandonment Law

Teen Abandoned in Nebraska Goes Back Home to Iowa

Nebraska Dad Who Dumped 9 Kids Speaks Out

Teen and Tween Legally Abandoned Under New Law

Four Teens Save a Baby

Teething Ring and Run: Grandmother Charged With Abandoning Newborn