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Friday, October 03, 2008
Law - More on "Neb. Officials: Parents Misusing Infant Drop-Off Law"
Updating this ILB entry from Sept. 29th, my copy of the printed NY Times today has a page 1 story by Erik Eckholm headlined "License to abandon children in a law meant to save them." The online version has a different headline and location - Section A, p. 21. Some quotes from the long story:
In total last month, 15 older children in Nebraska were dropped off by a beleaguered parent or custodial aunt or grandmother who said the children were unmanageable.Officials have called the abandonments a misuse of a new law that was mainly intended to prevent so-called Dumpster babies — the abandonment of newborns by young, terrified mothers — but instead has been used to hand off out-of-control teenagers or, in the case of the father of 10, to escape financial and personal despair.
The spate of abandonments has prompted an outcry about parental irresponsibility and pledges to change the state law, which allows care givers to drop off children without fear of prosecution. But it has also cast a spotlight on the hidden extent of family turmoil in the country and what many experts say is a shortage of respite care, counseling and especially psychiatric services to help parents in dire need.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 3, 2008 03:13 PM
Posted to General Law Related