safe haven laws

[Kid Pickle]

Where do these older kids end up? Foster Care? Back with the parents who didn't want them? Wards of the State?

"..emergency shelters, reative foster homes, group homes, and -- in at least one case -- a psychiatric hospital."

I guess most of these kids were quite problematic -- violent, self-destructive, regular runaways, etc. The parents couldn't handle it.

 

[doeton]

"The Legislature opens a special session on Friday to fix the law. Most legislators have already agreed to add an age limit of 3 days, which would change Nebraska's law from the most lenient to one of the strictest in the nation."

The Associated Press: 11-year-old boy is 31st Nebraska 'safe haven' case

red state shows its family values.

 

[del]

We're the first state with the law, period. I guess everyone else can learn from us what NOT to do.

I'm looking at an article from Sunday's Omaha paper and the first thing that strikes me is that kids being taken to the hospital are now afraid that their parents might leave them. I hadn't thought of that.

It says most of the parents are present in the court proceedings, so their not just dropping them off and saying, "Awright! PAAARTTY!!"

With the tweekers and the abusive-types, our foster-care system is pretty taxed as it is. Maybe more people will get involved. I would if I were financially capable.

The legislature is going to fix it Friday, I guess, so drop off the brats while you can, America!!

we've had a safe haven law here for four years. the age limit is seven days; it seems to work pretty well.

 

[Silence]

I think the law is meant to protect newborns. It's for women who haven't told anyone they are pregnant and don't know what else to do with their infant so rather than dump it in a trash bin they have the ability to bring it to a safe place and not be asked questions. The laws aren't designed to and shouldn't be used by parents fed up with their problematic children.

Gem I wasn't being ridiculous. saying the safe haven laws are better than abortion is just more right to life rhetoric IMO. The intent of the safe haven law is being abused and it needs to be addressed. pronto.

 

[catzmeow]

But,,,,a baby has a 100% chance of being adopted. Trust me on this, the waiting list is years and years in some cases.

If the child is white and healthy, sure. If the child is black and addicted to crack, not so much.

 

[Silence]

If the child is white and healthy, sure. If the child is black and addicted to crack, not so much.

exactly right!

 

[Againsheila]

If the child is white and healthy, sure. If the child is black and addicted to crack, not so much.

Not true. I know people who've adopted a crack baby and are fostering two more and would adopt them if they were allowed. At least one of the 3 is black.

 

[catzmeow]

I really feel torn on these kinds of laws. I spent 8 years working with high risk kids (mostly minority), and most of their family situations are not ideal. If the family abandons the child, at least it provides that young person with an opportunity to find a better quality of life elsewhere. On the other hand, it has to cause significant long-term damage to the teenager.

And, when we are talking about these kids who are so ungovernable and difficult to handle, in most cases, they'd have been better off if they'd been dropped off at 7 days of age...the parents have often been neglecting/abusing them or just plain refusing to fulfill their parental obligations for years.

 

[catzmeow]

Not true. I know people who've adopted a crack baby and are fostering two more and would adopt them if they were allowed. At least one of the 3 is black.

MY point is that there isn't a waiting list for those kids. The people you've mentioned are RARE within the system. Most people who wish to adopt do not want to adopt a minority/special needs child. That's why there are so many of them in the foster care system.

 

[Ravi]

Crack babies are a myth

03-099 (David D. Lewis, M.D.)

 

[catzmeow]

First, I've spent years working with kids who were born crack-addicted. it isn't a myth. Secondly, if that term is incredibly offensive to you, let's sub in "fetal alcohol syndrome." Same difference.

Point still stands.

 

[Ravi]

Prove it.

 

[catzmeow]

When Mothers And Infants Are Addicts - New York Times

Here is a story that dates from the crack epidemic that describes the specific symptoms that crack-addicted infants exhibit, and the specific modality of treatment. Fortunately, the usage of crack cocaine has decreased in the U.S., and fewer children are being born having been exposed to these kinds of toxic substances, though children who have been exposed to methamphetamine (*usually through proximity to clandestine labs, not through in utero exposure) are on the rise.

Here is a bibliography of similar pieces on this topic, dating into the late 00s:
OLA 2005 - Crack Babies Case Study


Nice op ed, by the way. Just because it's in a scientific publication doesn't make it less of an editorial piece.

ciao.

 

[catzmeow]

Singer, et. al., 2004: "Prenatal cocaine exposure ...was associated with an increased risk for specific cognitive impairments and lower likelihood of IQ above the normative mean at 4 years."

 

[sky dancer]

Of course, don't let any gay people adopt these kids.

 

[Ravi]

None of that is proof. It's like trying to prove gay people are more apt to be child abusers...people find what they want to see.

Nice try though.

 

[sky dancer]

I listened to an interview by the Ombudsman of NPR. She said that even with proof--facts and valid research--people don't believe what is contrary to their deeply held biases.

I thought that was fascinating.

 

[catzmeow]

None of that is proof.

You have a strange idea of "proof." You will take an op ed piece over a bibliography of research studies that deal with the impact on child development from fetal exposure to crack...

Okay. I'm done. You win. Or, maybe I just don't care.

 

[catzmeow]

Of course, don't let any gay people adopt these kids.

They might catch the gay. I hear it leads to fatal conditions like hanging lovely window treatments and compulsive decorating.

 

[Ravi]

You have a strange idea of "proof." You will take an op ed piece over a bibliography of research studies that deal with the impact on child development from fetal exposure to crack...

Okay. I'm done. You win. Or, maybe I just don't care.

I don't care either. I just get annoyed with people that are so welded to their own thoughts that they can't get beyond them. Not one of your links showed evidence of crack addiction in babies, nor did it prove that it was the crack the mother was supposedly doing that led to poor child health. It could easily be a million other factors. Correlation does not imply causation.