Nebraska man that abused safe haven law by dumping his 9 kids at a hospital is having another kid

 

Gary Staton, the Nebraska father who famously abandoned nine of his children in a hospital in September 2007 by invoking the safe haven law, is about to become a dad again. The 37-year-old father-to-be has gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and will now have eleven children. The latest baby, however, will be the only one has parental rights to, since he officially gave up his other children.

Staton's situation and actions in 2007 brought a lot of attention to Nebraska's safe haven law. At the time, it stated that any child could be brought to a hospital and left there without the parent facing criminal prosection. There was no age limit. After Staton brought nine of his children to Creighton University Medical Center, the law was changed to stipulate that only newborns could be left. Staton's children were between the ages of 8 months and 16-year-old when he left them.

Initially, his story brought him a lot of public sympathy. His wife had died suddenly of an aneurysm earlier in the year, he had lost his job, and he said that he had also lost the will to parent without his wife. He also said he asked for no financial assistance at that time, and that he found it hard to make ends meet with his $10.75 an hour job.

It didn't take long for some investigating to reveal that during the lifetime of the Staton children, the family had received nearly $1 million in government aid such as food stamps and Medicaid. It was also learned that Staton had lied to his children when taking them to the hospital where he abandoned them, telling them he was getting them grief counseling.

Staton signed away his parental rights of his seven youngest children. The oldest was eighteen, and therefore an adult. The children were placed in foster care. It is reported that their mother's aunt wants to adopt them. The two oldest boys have been in the care of a 75-year-old woman in Omaha who has been appointed their legal guardian. The children remain in close contact with one another. Their legal advocate, Tom Incontro, worries that the news that their father is expecting another child will have a negative impact on them. As for whether or not the state will take away the baby when it is born, well, that's not likely. Unless there is proof it is in danger, there's no reason to.

You can't help but feel for the Staton children. They lost their mother, then their father abandons them and tells them he just can't be a parent anymore. Two years later, their dad has moved on with another woman (which is certainly his right) and is having a baby with her, while they remain in foster care with uncertain futures. It's heartbreaking to think of what these kids have lost, but at the same time they seem to be a lot better off without him in their lives.

In Washington state, the safe haven law stipulates that babies 72 hours old or less may be left in an emergency room or a fire department with active personnel without the parent being criminally prosecuted.

Source: Omaha World-Herald