US state curtails child dumping

By Rajini Vaidyanathan
BBC News

Protesters in Omaha, Nebraska, demonstrate against the law

Lawmakers in the US state of Nebraska have agreed to change their controversial safe haven law.

The law had previously allowed parents and carers to abandon children as old as 18 without being prosecuted.

The state's governor and a majority of the legislature have agreed to change the policy so it applies only to babies up to three days old.

Nebraska had introduced the law in July to try to prevent children from being abandoned in dangerous places.

Dropped off

It was the last US state to enact a safe haven law, aimed at allowing struggling parents to leave babies at hospitals without fear of prosecution.

But unlike other states, Nebraska's law does not specify an age limit, and parents and guardians have been dumping children up to the age of 18.

Now Governor Dave Heineman says the law needs to be changed to focus on infants.

He wants to reduce the age limit from 18 years to three days, in line with many other parts of America.

Since it became law in Nebraska, at least 18 children aged between 22 months and 17 years have been abandoned, including two cases where parents drove from Iowa and Michigan just to drop their children off.

The changes are due to come into effect from next January.