Safe Haven Laws

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:12 am

So Nebraska is the last state in the Nation to formulate a "Safe Haven" law. As I understand it the idea behind these laws is to allow parents/guardians to drop children off at hospitals, fire stations or police stations with out question-hopefully inspiring parents who would otherwise abuse or neglect these kids to break the cycle of abuse. According to what I've been reading apparently their law may be pretty unique in that it allows parents/guardians to drop off newborns, but potentially children and teenagers, from 14-19.

Personally I am in favor of this law, and hope it passes. I also hope other states consider modifying their laws in a similar fashion. If we can prevent abuse and neglect, I think it's worth it.

Crazy Elf · Post by **Crazy Elf** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:33 am

It's a good idea with massive holes in it. Hospitals, fire stations and police stations are going to need people capable of dealing with children on hand 24/7, and like most laws it doesn't deal with the root causes of the problem. That being said, it <i>is</i> a good idea, particularly if it leads to police checking up on people that have checked their kids in yet haven't returned to claim them. That could stop violence right there.

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:06 am

Linky no worky for me.

Anyway, is the intent that the parents can drop the kids off for a breather and pick them up when they're not about to beat the everliving shit out of 'em? Good goal, how do you do it?

Or is it a drop off and never come back and the kids get funneled into the foster care system?

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:12 pm

As I understood it the latter, not the former. I'll see about fixing the link.

crone · Post by **crone** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:49 pm

Hospitals and fire stations will probably already have people who are trained to deal with distressed or injured children.

Most states seem to restrict this kind of thing to babies, and that makes more sense to me. It's a different thing to abandon a child when a relationship exists, even if it's a really fucked up one. Seems to me like it would be better to promote a different system, that allows for a more flexible response. It also seems more like a threat you might use, than something you would actually do ("you better behave, or I'm gonna leave you with the cops").

MissTeja · Post by **MissTeja** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:49 pm

I sure as fuck hope the Nebraska-version of the Department of Human Services is ready for this and has one hellaciously large foster care system.

Our Delinquency Courts have to fight parents daily on the idea that we're not going to just take their kid off their hands and either incarcerate them or put them into one of our few foster homes temporarily, on the mere fact that they can't handle them anymore, and would rather have their sanity than their child anymore.

Nine times out of ten, if the parent can't handle the kid, we try first to figure out what the parent is doing wrong - and about nine times out of those ten, we solve (or at least generate a great deal of positive change to) the problem. It's like Cesar Millan, for out of control kids.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:01 pm

Updated links

From Fox News

And the Associated Press

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 1:54 pm

Okay, what happens when the baby-sitter drops off the kid? Can the parents get them back? Could a teacher drop off an unruly kid on a field trip? Just, wow.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:00 pm

In Michigan, if you drop your child off at the Fire Department (currently the only place in Michigan that accepts abandoned children, AFAIK), you lose all parental rights. I may be off in this though, since it's been awhile since I went to training on this law...I should probably look it up again before I speak about it.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:47 pm

paladin2019 wrote:Okay, what happens when the baby-sitter drops off the kid? Can the parents get them back?

I suspect that if you wanted your kid back, and it was easily verifiable that you weren't some sort of deuschebag and that you didn't want the sitter to drop the kids off they'd give 'em back.

Could a teacher drop off an unruly kid on a field trip?

I doubt they'd be very happy after it all it played out-I mean I don't think this will be implemented with zero common sense here. (I mean I could be wrong. I've certainly been wrong before.)

MissTeja · Post by **MissTeja** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:13 pm

UncleJoseph wrote:In Michigan, if you drop your child off at the Fire Department (currently the only place in Michigan that accepts abandoned children, AFAIK), you lose all parental rights. I may be off in this though, since it's been awhile since I went to training on this law...I should probably look it up again before I speak about it.

No, there's a Safe Delivery law in Michigan that went into effect in 2001 where there are now more options. For unwanted newborns, anyways.[/url]

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:16 pm

MissTeja wrote:No, there's a Safe Delivery law in Michigan that went into effect in 2001 where there are now more options. For unwanted newborns, anyways.[/url]

Yeah, that's the one. I was thinking it only applied to newborns. I think it's stupid to make it apply to children of any age. That's retarded. That means anyone who is too lazy or just stupid can simply drop off their kids and say, "I'm done."

Liniah · Post by **Liniah** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:11 pm

It sounds very strange that anyone can drop off the child, but that's what the article says.

Can they just dump them off, or do they have to sign legal papers I wonder.

It will be interested to see how the courts handle this when people actually start to drop off kids. It says the law makers are leaving the details up to the courts.

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:17 pm

Well, really, are the lazy and/or stupid really who you want raising the next generation to be lazy and/or stupid? I have no problem with the intent of these laws, my question is their execution.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 4:20 am

paladin2019 wrote:Well, really, are the lazy and/or stupid really who you want raising the next generation to be lazy and/or stupid? I have no problem with the intent of these laws, my question is their execution.

My fear is that the average shit-bag is not going to think ahead of time about bearing children because he/she will think, "Well if it ends up being too much of a burden, I can just drop the baby off at the fire dept."

DV8 · Post by **DV8** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:20 am

Serious Paul wrote:deuschebag

Is that a German douchebag?