Nebraska discusses safe-haven law

The law has prompted protests urging parental responsibility

Lawmakers in the US state of Nebraska have introduced bills calling for limits on the age of children who can be abandoned under a safe-haven law.

One bill proposed an age limit of 72 hours, while another would let parents leave children as old as 15. They will be voted on at a session next Friday.

Under the law passed by the state in July, a person will not be prosecuted for leaving a child at a hospital.

Since then, 34 have been abandoned, including 20 teenagers as old as 17.

On Thursday night, a five-year-old boy was left at a hospital in Omaha. Earlier, a woman dropped off two teenagers at another hospital in the city.

Nebraska was one of the last states to introduce a safe-haven law. All others limit abandonment to infants. Only the District of Columbia is without such a law.

'Best of intentions'

The law passed by Nebraska in July was intended to prevent vulnerable parents abandoning newborn babies in potentially dangerous situations.

No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska Text of law Safe haven or last resort?

However, legislators could not agree on a specific age limit, choosing "child" instead, which applies to anyone aged 17 or under.

Nebraska state legislature speaker Mike Flood said: "Nebraska's safe haven law was done with the best of intentions."

But with teenagers making up the largest number of abandoned children, Governor Dave Heineman announced a special session of the state legislature on Friday to address the issue. The decision led to an increase in abandonments.

Among the teenagers so far abandoned, six were aged 17, two were 16 years old, six were 15, three were 14-year-olds and three were aged 13. Another eight children aged 11 or 12 were abandoned.

A public hearing on the proposed changes to the safe-haven law is scheduled for early next week. State senators will then have three rounds of debate on the legislation, followed by a final vote on 21 November.

If the revision is passed with a two-thirds majority, it could be signed into law immediately by Gov Heineman.

Mr Flood said once a vote had been taken, the underlining issue of helping abandoned teenagers would need to be addressed.

Parental rights

Nebraska's safe-haven law currently states: "No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska."

"The hospital shall promptly contact appropriate authorities to take custody of the child."

The director of child and family services for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Todd Landry, told Time magazine that the parent remained involved.

"They may be ordered to provide services, ordered to participate in family therapy, and they may be ordered to pay child support.

"Parental rights are not terminated or ended when they leave the child at the hospital," he said.