Dumb law brings out dumber people

[Dr Mordrid]

Link....

Michigan mom abandons 13-year-old under Nebraska safe haven law

Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News

A Metro Detroit teen today became the second person from outside Nebraska abandoned in the state under Nebraska's safe-haven law.

The mother of the 13-year-old Michigan boy drove to Omaha, Neb., to leave the child at a city hospital early this morning, a Nebraska official said.

A unique Nebraska law that went into effect July 18 allows children as old as 18 to be abandoned at state-licensed hospitals without fear of prosecution.

It wasn't known why the Michigan boy was left at the hospital. He was placed in an emergency shelter.

Last week, a 14-year-old girl from Iowa was left at an Omaha hospital by her grandparents. She has since been returned to the family.

Besides the two nonresidents, 16 children from Nebraska between the ages of 1 and 17 have been left at hospitals under the law. Several parents or guardians cited uncontrollable behavior as the reason for the abandonment.

[az]

Close this or I'm making it political.

[Dr Mordrid]

WTF? We can't have an open discussion of stupid legislature tricks, a very bipartisan activity, or dump parents?

[rylan]

Sounds to me like a retarded law that some parents are taking advantage of to ditch thsir kids because they can't handle it.
Nice... so now you can have a baby and raise them until they become teenagers, and then dump them off on someone else. Great parenting.

[cjolley]

It's not like there is a way to legislate good parenting.
Sounds to me like a great law.
The kids are well rid of those parents.
Hopefully this will lead to the kids getting some much needed help.

[Umfriend]

For now, I'm with cjolley.

[Dr Mordrid]

The laws mistakes are;

1. it should only apply to residents of that state. As it is it burdens Nebraska with the problems of other states.

2. it applies to 'children' who are too old. These laws are usually applied only to babies under a year old.

There are other ways for parents to give up custody of older children in every state.

[cjolley]

1. it should only apply to residents of that state. As it is it burdens Nebraska with the problems of other states.

2. it applies to 'children' who are too old. These laws are usually applied only to babies under a year old.

There are other ways for parents to give up custody of older children in every state.

1, That's Nebraska's problem. Nice of them though...

2, There's no reason Nebraska should be bound by the tradition set by other States. Frankly, I agree with Nebraska's age limit.

3, Which these parents were too lazy to pursue. Screw them.


PS It's pretty much impossible to keep this subject apolitical.

[TransformX]

The law, I'm okay with it.
The people, on the other hand...

I mean, when you leave a newborn in the hospital, he/she hardly knows anything.
When you leave a kid, or worse, a teenager, he/she knows just about *EVERYTHING* up to the point where with good legal help, they could sue your a**.

[Mehen]

Stupid law imo.

[VJ]

I'm with cjolley on this: conceptually, a law like this should be possible, if for no other reason than to protect the childeren from their parents.

We have a similar law, but as doc pointed out, the maximum allowed age is much lower.The current Nebrasca law allows for parents to give up (on) their kids if they are 10-14 years even! But perhaps it still beats the alternative for those kids...?

edit: but I can't understand the people that do this...

Jörg

[cjolley]

a [good] law like this should be possible...

Always remember that the first law of making laws is the Law of Unintended Consequences.

It may be that it's easier for me to overlook the obvious flaws in the law because working in county government lets me see up close and personal how difficult it is to write a law that doesn't have bugs in it.


PS For some context I should point out that county governments in Oklahoma don't make ANY laws, we just have to follow an amazing number of complex ones, many of which have bugs in them.

[Dr Mordrid]

Unfortunately we are saddled with a county "government" that can make laws, and does so stupidly on a regular basis - much to the consternation of the communities affected. Mostly a place for Dem back-benchers to wait for their big break.