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The Abandoned Children of Nebraska By Karen Ball November 2008

There are a couple of ways law-abiding citizens can abandon children in Nebraska. Sometimes a desperate parent will tell a child that he or she is going to the hospital for something minor, like a rash then in the emergency room, the child waits and waits, only to discover that the doctors are there but the parent has walked away for good. Or unruly teenagers might simply be dumped at the ER door. "A parent will pull up and say, 'All right, get out of the car,' " says Lisa Stites of Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha. In other states, laws that allow parents to leave their children at hospitals or fire stations are usually limited to newborns of a few weeks or months. In Nebraska, the law failed to define the word child. As a result, teenagers as old as 17 have been abandoned. And not just one or two. Nebraska found itself facing an epidemic of abandoned children after the legislature passed a law in July that allowed parents to leave their children at a safe place, like a hospital, without fear of prosecution. It was one of the last states in the country to pass such legislation but the law contained a large loophole by including children of all ages. The legislature gathered on Friday in a special session to fix the safe-haven law. The day before, three more kids were abandoned at Omaha hospitals, bringing the total to 34 since midSeptember, shortly after the law was passed. A 5-year-old boy was left by his mother on Thursday night; two teenage girls, 14 and 17, were dropped off earlier the same day. The older girl ran away from the ER before authorities could arrive. And a Florida man traveled from Miami to drop off his 11-year-old boy earlier this week. (See Pictures of the Week.) But while Nebraska can easily narrow its statute, dealing with the underlying causes of abandonment is much harder, child-welfare experts say. "These parents had to be totally overwhelmed to do something like this," says the Rev. Steven Boes, president of Boys Town the original safe haven of Father Flanagan fame, which happens to be headquartered in Omaha. Once upon a time, Depression-battered parents would buy bus fare for their children and hand them a sign that read "Take Me to Boys Town." Their counterparts today "are parents who have tried to navigate the system for years, and this is their last resort; these are parents who ran out of patience too darn fast and gave up too early, and everything in between," says Boes.

For each abandonment, there are just as many parents who arrive at a safe haven but, in the end, don't leave their child, says Courtney Anderson of the Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha. A medical social worker, she was on duty in the ER when some of the abandonments unfolded. "Some parents want us to threaten the child they feel that would set them straight," she says. Some parents cry; others are merely angry. Some children begin to cry when they figure out what's going on, while others are hardened veterans of the foster-care system and "are used to these ups and downs." Five of the children abandoned in Nebraska have been from out of state, but most are local. A majority of the children are older than 13 and have a history of being treated for mentalhealth issues. Nearly every abandoned child came from a single-parent household. In September, one father walked into a hospital and left nine children, ages 1 to 17. He reportedly told hospital workers that he'd been overwhelmed since his wife died a few days after their youngest was born. Boes says one root of the abandonment problem is that there is simply not enough help for parents in crisis. In Nebraska, for instance, there are only six child psychiatrists in the entire state, he says. "It's a national problem ... insurance often won't pay after six visits so if the kid's not 'fixed,' you're out of luck. States have a jumble of services. It's a puzzle with missing pieces." State senator Mike Flood, speaker of Nebraska's unicameral legislature, introduced a bill on Friday to change the law to cover newborns up to three days old only. He expects a debate on whether to expand coverage for the first year of a child's life, which some states do. "We'll be looking at the bigger issues next year," he promised. "Mental illness, the behavioral-health workforce, caseworker loads." Boes says the parents who are leaving their kids shouldn't be demonized. "Father Flanagan said it: he learned there was no such thing as a bad boy. And I have come to believe there is no such thing as a bad family." There is a 12-year-old girl at Boys Town now who desperately wants to see her mother, he says, the same mother who broke the girl's arm and used to hold her down and burn her with cigarettes. "Why, I wonder? But if she can see something good there, surely there is good in all families." (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859405,00.html)

US shocked by spate of abandoned children By Ed Pilkington in New York Saturday, 4 October 2008
Authorities in the United States are reeling from a sudden spate of children being abandoned by their parents and guardians under a new law that allows caregivers to leave any child up to the age of 19 at hospitals without fear of prosecution. In Nebraska in September alone, 14 children were abandoned in hospitals and another was mistakenly taken to a police station, which is not covered under the law. In a further case, an 18year-old presented himself for safe keeping, but was not placed in foster care because he was too old. The case that has caused most attention has been that of a father who handed over nine of his 10 children aged 20 months to 17 years to hospital carers. They have been placed with two sets of relatives before their fate is decided. In July Nebraska became the last of the 50 states to pass legislation designed to take criminality out of the abandonment of babies and infants, following a reported rise in such incidents. The process began with Texas, which enacted the law in 1999, and since then about 2,000 babies are thought to have been handed over nationwide. The Nebraska law, however, went further than that of any other state in keeping loose the definition of those who could be relinquished by their carers. In most states, it was restricted to the early months of life, but in Nebraska it has been left open as any age up to 19. The first to make use of the law was a woman in Omaha who tried on September 1 to part company with her 14-year-old son, saying she did not want to care for him anymore. She made the mistake, under the terms of the legislation, of presenting him at Omaha police department. On September 13 a woman took her 11-year-old grandson to a hospital in Omaha complaining he was violent and destructive and saying he would be better off in a group home. The boy is now in foster care. The same day a boy aged 15 was abandoned in Lincoln by his aunt, who said he was disobedient and a possible gang member. "I didn't abandon him," she told the Omaha World Herald. "I wanted help for him so when he hits 18 he's not a menace to society." Two further cases occurred on September 20 and 23 involving a girl aged 13 and the 18-year-old who presented himself. The next day, in two incidents, relatives walked away from a boy aged 11 and another of 15.

The same day Gary Staton turned up at Creighton University medical centre with all but the eldest of his 10 children. The children's mother, his wife, had died after childbirth in February 2007. Staton said he had felt overwhelmed and unable to cope since his wife's death. Nebraska residents have been shocked by the surge of abandonments. Corie Russell, a columnist with the Papillion Times, wrote: "Birth certificates aren't receipts. This isn't a store refund. And I'm definitely not giving these parents any credit for their irrational and cruel decisions." The safe haven law has also been criticised by the courts. One judge presiding over some of the cases lambasted it as "state-sanctioned abandonment". The state's assembly members are now considering revising the legislation to narrow the definition of children that can be given away. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/04/usa)

15-year-old US citizen abandoned in a foreign country October 29, 2009 by radi


I have been twice issued a passport to travel abroad, but the last one expired 5 months ago leaving me in a foreign country without any valid document to move. My mother and I, as the usual procedure required, had applied for the replacement of passport at the US Embassy in foreign country long before it expired. As far as my mother is not an American citizen and we left the USA three years after she had given birth to me, some of her documents got lost. However, majority of identity documents still are on file in the USA to which we do not have access due to the requirements to apply in person. Nevertheless, we presented all we had, direct and indirect proof, to the US Consul for the replacement of the expired document. The US Consul simply keeps ignoring us and demands those very documents which he knows we are unable to obtain from the US in our current situation. On the other hand, he himself does not want to guide us or advise telling he does not know what to do. I always have known that US Consulates exist to help its citizens abroad but in my situation the relationship with the consul just turned into nightmare. I hope you could understand that paper documents tend to be lost, altered or just damaged and there should be a way to restore or replace them, but in my case it seems to be a just a deadlock due to which Ive been without education for almost a year as no school accepts me without documents; I cannot get medical attention in a foreign country as no clinic treats people without valid proof of identity and finally I cannot even walk out as a normal human being as according to laws of this country as of all others a foreigner without valid identity and visa is a subject to immediate removal. Yes! Removal! But to where? Even this is unclear. What have I done wrong that mistakes and inaccurate handling of documents by my parents makes me suffer today? As the US Consul put it: My parents problem became mine. Is it not a mockery at my not yet established life? The Law says: after a passport has been issued, it cannot be revoked merely because the child has become involved in a custody dispute.. There is no dispute over custody and we got stuck in a Catch-22 situation: to prove that she is and has always been my mother she needs to travel to the USA and restore whatever was out of date or lost (most of documents require application in person). However, the US consul opts out issuance of visa to her. On the other hand, without restoring the record it is impossible to convince the consul himself that passport issued twice had been checked and

double checked for the background material previously and only he was the one who could help us to restore whatever had been missing. Finally, there are lots of methods like DNA tests, identity recovery solution, sworn statements, etc. However, in my case the consul does not seem to know or does not want to hear about it all denying its authority to be able to help. Until now we have not even been presented with formal decision of denial or reasons to map our further steps. It seems we are deliberately drawn into unawareness or are just misguided and trapped in a vicious-circle-like menace. Please understand my mental state too; feeling as an animal in the jungle unprotected, hunted, vulnerable, envying all other teenagers who go to school every day, associate with each other, appreciate the pleasures the day brings while I live in the dark, in hiding, in fear that one thoughtless step would bring unexpected and disastrous consequences for me and my family. Is this what I deserve in my 15 becoming the victim of thickskinned, uncompassionate bureaucracy? Please believe me that this Catch 22 situation ironically brings much more stress and indignation than it supposed to. Thanks to pressure of the huge bureaucratic machine my mother already has lost her job contract we were so happy to finally get one, my little sister lost her school opportunity into the bargain, we plunged into debts as living on a foreign soil means multiplication of expenses on rent, food, everyday necessities. I would have never believed if anyone had told me that there were dead ends in any situation? It must be mine when living without a hope and light at the end of a tunnel. Even criminals have right of a second chance while I have none when did nothing wrong.
(http://helptheyoung.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/15-year-old-us-citizen-abundonedin-a/)

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