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Post by charliegirl on Sept 16, 2008 14:42:34 GMT -5
OMAHA, Neb. - Two boys ages 15 and 11 were left at Nebraska hospitals over the weekend, the first youngsters surrendered under the state's new safe-haven law that allows caregivers to abandon children and teens as well as infants, officials said. "These were two cases where the caregiver or parent decided the behavior issues were such they felt they could no longer provide good parenting skills," Landry said.
A 44-year-old woman dropped off her teenage nephew at Lincoln's BryanLGH Medical Center West on Saturday, saying the boy had behavioral problems that she couldn't handle anymore, Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said. The woman is the boy's legal guardian. The other boy was left at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha on Saturday, said Alegent Health spokeswoman Kelly Grinnell. The 11-year-old was dropped off by his mother, who said she believed she could no longer care for him, said Todd Landry, who heads the Department of Health and Human Services' division of children and family services. The full article is here: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_re_us/children_safe_haven;_ylt=AqDmp5z3GWvGwhG4___hl2NH2ocAWe have got to come up with a system that helps parents care for their kids who have behavior issues so they don't feel the need to abandon them. Those poor kids have got to feel betrayed by the people they trusted to always love them.
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Post by bugsmom on Sept 16, 2008 15:36:17 GMT -5
This is just heartbreaking. I actually feel sick to my stomache. I keeping picturing these boys in my head. Especially the 11 year old, can you imagine?
Your right, there has to be some way for parents to have better resources to help their children. Oh, its going to take me all day to get this story out of my head.
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Post by katiekat on Sept 16, 2008 15:40:43 GMT -5
How can this even be an option???
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Post by jfla on Sept 16, 2008 19:06:00 GMT -5
This is so distressing and I too feel disillusioned by our system that legally provides a way out for parents without a long term support system set up. this is awful.
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Post by charliegirl on Sept 16, 2008 19:16:04 GMT -5
It was originally developed for girls who got pregnant and would have neglected the baby or abandoned it somewhere unsafe to keep their families from finding out. They would be able to drop them off without repercussion. Apparently they wanted to cover young children also in case someone realized they couldn't or wouldn't be able to parent a child the originally intended to raise. Now people who don't know what else to do are using it to get rid of kids who become a problem.
I wonder what happened to the 15 yr old boy's parents that the aunt was raising him. Was he abandoned by them too? I suppose both boys are better off than if they stayed there and were ignored and allowed to run the streets or were abused in the name of discipline. I just hope they find good homes with people who are willing to love them and put their hearts into helping them.
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Post by jj on Sept 16, 2008 22:09:32 GMT -5
I could just cry for those two kids. I wish I could go get them both and take them in. I agree with you guys. Something needs to be done so parents don't feel there is no other option. This is just wrong.
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Post by charliegirl on Sept 16, 2008 23:32:53 GMT -5
I wonder if the adults who handed them over are regretting it now. It would be so easy to think you just couldn't go on any longer and drop them off, then realize the consequences. I also wonder if there is a grace period for the parents to come back and get them if they realize they acted out of frustration and didn't really want them gone forever.
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Post by jj on Sept 17, 2008 2:15:05 GMT -5
It seems I remember there being a grace period but I'm not sure. I need to go read up on that.
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Post by puzzled on Sept 17, 2008 20:19:28 GMT -5
The sad thing is is that these parents/caregivers had probably tried to get help from the county agencies before this drastic thing happened, and were turned down. I know of a woman in Pennsylvania who has adopted her two nephews from their drug addicted mom, one was two when adopted and the other was only a newborn...3 months old, this was four years ago or so....the older one has RAD, but she is on medicaid and can get no help for him phsychologically, the school won't admit he has any problems, yet he has put cleaning liquid in her coffee, hid/destroyed/ thrown away important items, constantly pees in his room, or worse, threatens to kill the whole family on a regular basis, tells the school his mom doesn't feed him, beats him, you name it...and no one will help her.
She does not want to give up on him, she is doing her best, but no one will support her. I wonder if something similar happened to these people.
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Post by jill on Sept 18, 2008 16:14:08 GMT -5
OMAHA, Neb. - Two boys ages 15 and 11 were left at Nebraska hospitals over the weekend, the first youngsters surrendered under the state's new safe-haven law that allows caregivers to abandon children and teens as well as infants, officials said. "These were two cases where the caregiver or parent decided the behavior issues were such they felt they could no longer provide good parenting skills," Landry said.
A 44-year-old woman dropped off her teenage nephew at Lincoln's BryanLGH Medical Center West on Saturday, saying the boy had behavioral problems that she couldn't handle anymore, Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said. The woman is the boy's legal guardian. The other boy was left at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha on Saturday, said Alegent Health spokeswoman Kelly Grinnell. The 11-year-old was dropped off by his mother, who said she believed she could no longer care for him, said Todd Landry, who heads the Department of Health and Human Services' division of children and family services. The full article is here: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_re_us/children_safe_haven;_ylt=AqDmp5z3GWvGwhG4___hl2NH2ocAWe have got to come up with a system that helps parents care for their kids who have behavior issues so they don't feel the need to abandon them. Those poor kids have got to feel betrayed by the people they trusted to always love them.*there are services out there I get cases where moms and dads have trouble with teens and I put in respite to help, another agency to work with the families and teens etc. My heart goes out to the kids they must be crushed. The only positive here is at least they were not physically harmed. Those parents are idiots.
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