Writing in the New York Times Domestic Disturbances blog, Judith Warner says case files from the Nebraska “safe haven” law paint a “portrait of desperation,” and demonstrate that children with mental health issues are being ignored by an overstretched health care system.

The law, approved last year, allowed parents to abandon children of any age at Nebraska hospitals with no questions asked. All told, 36 children were left with state authorities. Most were between the ages of 13 and 17, and most had serious mental health issues. Lawmakers subsequently altered the statute, imposing an age limit of 30 days.

The lack of good care early on for children with mental health issues, Warner says, “can create much bigger problems, for families and for society, in the long run.”

See also:

Mental health is strongest taboo, says research – [UK] Guardian

An excerpt:

In a survey of 2,000 people across Britain, almost 30% said they would find it difficult to admit publicly to having a mental illness, compared with 20% who said they would have difficulty coming out as gay.

Commissioned by the Time to Change campaign, an umbrella group of charities and the Institute of Psychiatry with a remit to challenge stigma, the survey also found that admitting to a mental health condition was deemed harder than confessing to having a drink problem or going bankrupt.

See earlier posts here.

(New York Times photo)

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