Nebraska state legislators have changed the state’s “safe haven” law, which allowed a parent to leave a child with a hospital employee without fear of facing charges, to apply only to infants in the first month of life.
Last spring, Nebraska became the last U.S. state to enact a safe haven law. These laws are intended to prevent frightened new parents from abandoning the baby in an unsafe place or from hiding and possibly killing the baby. In 49 states, the law specifies the age of the infants the law applies to. In some states the law applies to newborns under three days old, in other states 30 days old, in a couple of states several months old—but all 49 other laws specified an age limit of one year or less, usually much less. But when Nebraska legislators debated the proposal last spring, they disagreed about the age, asking if a baby a day less than a year old would be protected but a day older than a year would not.
Nebraska ended up with a law that said no person would face imprisonment for abandoning “a child” to a hospital employee. The Nebraska children’s services department, as well as the nation, had a rude awakening when the majority of children abandoned were adolescents. In at least three cases, parents drove their children from other states to leave them at a Nebraska hospital.
Nebraska Governor Dave Heinemann called the state legislature back into special session on November 14. On Monday November 18, the legislature held public hearings. One mother testified that her son was bipolar and she felt she had no other way to get him help. One proposal was to have the safe haven apply to parents of children up to age 15 years, with several new social service proposals to be enacted as part of this bill. The legislature was not prepared to determine the merits of each new service proposal during the special session. Lawmakers have created a commission to study youth mental health services and have agreed to address the need for family mental health and crisis services during their regular session which will begin in January.
Governor Heinemann proposed a three-day age limit, but state senator Chris Langemeier of Schuyler, Nebraska argued for a 30-day period. “At three days,” the senator said, “you haven’t spent all night up with them…everything that goes along with being a new parent hasn’t set in.”
The changed law, allowing a parent or guardian to leave a baby under 30 days old with a hospital employee, was approved by the legislature and signed by the governor on Friday. It took effect immediately—at 12:01 am this past Saturday.
Please see these related blogs:
Crying Babies and the Possibilities for Abuse
Crying Babies and the Possibilities for Abuse, Part Two
Tragic Death of a Baby–Why Not Adoption Instead?