This one is amazing… I couldn’t believe it when it came down the AP news wire at work yesterday. Some guy in Nebraska abandoned 9 of his own children… ranging in ages from 1 to 17. Just dropped them off at the hospital, like unwanted puppies at the pound. And the absurd part — it was completely legal!
Yes, it was legal thanks to a “safe haven” law, which allows parents to abandon children by bringing them to a hospital.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I understand the law’s good intentions. Back in August, I had to send a news crew out to cover the story of an abandoned newborn baby on the south side of Syracuse, discovered in some bushes by a little girl playing near her house. The mother now faces criminal charges (if she’s ever caught) and the baby would have most certainly died if it had gone much longer without being discovered. But if the mother had dropped the baby off at a hospital, police station or fire station, all would have been forgiven.
New York State’s version of the law allows the parent to abandon a baby that’s up to five days old. Nebraska’s law was also originally intended to protect infants, but some smartass lawmaker won an argument that the term “child” means anyone up to age 19.
I can’t imagine how those kids in Nebraska are feeling right now. It’s one thing to put a newborn baby up for adoption — newborns can’t tell who their parents are. By the time they’re old enough to recognize people, as far as they’re concerned, their adoptive parents are their parents. But it’s a completely different thing to abandon kids who are old enough to know their parents. How do you, as a parent, do that? How do you tell a kid they aren’t wanted anymore? Did the father consider how his kids were going to feel? Not just today or next week, but 5, 10 or 20 years from now… that’s gotta really screw with their minds.
Safe haven laws really need a reasonable, early age limit. I hate to use such a cheap, simple analogy, but deciding whether or not you want to keep a baby should be like deciding whether or not you want to keep something you bought from a store. There needs to be a strict limit on how long until returns aren’t allowed anymore. I would say, at the very most, one year should be enough for someone to decide they don’t want to be a parent, or can’t handle it. There’s no shame in that; God knows there are many, many cases of parents who probably shouldn’t be parents, and their kids would be much better off with adoptive parents. But after a certain point, parents need to be committed to their children for the long haul.
Thankfully, the AP article seems to indicate smarter heads will prevail in the Nebraska Senate, even though that won’t happen until at least January.
Holy schniekies…
That’s messed up. If your kids are old enough to have “Daddy’s dropping you at the hospital b/c he’s tired of you” conversation they are too old for that! Not for nothin-why not just leave the 17yo in charge and go to the Legion for a few hours if you need a damn break.
Ugh…
I know some people could have issues with demanding inconsolable infants…especially the first time around w/no support group…but if your oldest is 17…yea…loco. Good to know he’s fully embraced the selflessness that comes with being a parent.
Dare I ask where the mother is?
Actually, the AP now has an updated version of the story which mentions the father’s name and his side of the story. The mother died last year, so he’s been on his own. Still, I stand by what I said originally, and I agree with your comments 100%.
There are so many other options this guy could have tried before simply abandoning his kids. Why couldn’t the 17-year-old step up and help be like a “babysitter” for the rest of the kids so dad could keep his job? It also mentions there’s an 18-year-old who was NOT abandoned. Why can’t she help out?
Even though the ages of the other kids were never mentioned, there MUST be at least a couple others who are old enough to at least partially take care of themselves… at least enough for the father to be able to go back to work, and then seek some sort of public assistance to cover the rest of his expenses.
When it comes to welfare, I don’t mind if it’s a guy who’s a single parent and several kids, as long as he’s still working, and making a concerted effort to contribute as much as he can. That’s still better than picking and choosing to keep some kids, but abandon the others.