From the Omaha World-Herald:

This month, Nebraska families dropped off 15 children, some as old as 17, at hospitals and a police station in search of help taking care of them. Some of the children have mental and behavioral problems.

Unlike laws in other states, Nebraska’s new safe haven law does not set an age limit for families that wish to drop off children to be cared for by the state. Other states set a maximum age of one year old.

Families and advocates say the cases expose the difficulties and lack of resources that families face. Officials at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services say the cases raise no concerns about problems within the system.

“The parents simply decided they did not want to continue on this journey with their kids,” said Todd Landry, children and family services director.

See also:

Father leaves 9 children at Nebraska hospital — Chicago Tribune

Children left at Nebraska hospitals — Chicago Tribune

Nebraska ’safe haven’ law for kids has unintended results – USA Today

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 9:39 pm and is filed under behavior, families, intellectual/developmental disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.