Teens dumped in Nebraska: We all need to pay attention

The help isn't easy to get.

More than 30 teens and older children have been abandoned at Nebraska hospitals since the state legislature passed a “safe haven” law in July, intending to save the lives of unwanted infants whose troubled and desperate new mothers might otherwise leave them to die.

Nebraska’s legislators couldn’t agree on an upper age limit to specify, so they left it open. Now teens old enough to drive are getting dumped – some from other states.

Child-welfare experts say they warned the legislature this would happen, to no avail. One lesson from this fiasco is that it shows how clueless lawmakers make public policy that sounds good without grasping the full implications. No Child Left Behind – the federal legislation currently hammering our educational system, also known by such variants as No School Left Standing – is another example. Just require that every child be above average, and test them endlessly to make sure it’s happening, and miracles will result! Oh, and don’t forget to blame, shame and punish teachers and schools if they fall short, too. And keep them chronically underfunded on top of all that.

The other big lesson from the Nebraska fiasco is that parents are desperate, and public services are falling short.

“Some of the parents claim they acted out of desperation, to get badly needed services for themselves or their troubled children in a state where they say help can be difficult to access,” wrote the Wall Street Journal (“Nebraska Law Leaves Children in Limbo,” Nov. 12, 2008). “ … Some parents have told hospital workers they've accessed the law as a shortcut to getting services that often are available only after long waits or are unaffordable or offered only in emergencies.”

The Journal article continued:

"What the safe haven law has exposed is that the resources we have in the community probably are not adequate for the population base," said Bob Storey, executive director of Youth Emergency Services, a youth shelter in Omaha.

State officials say Nebraska has ample mental health, counseling and other social services for sick or troubled teens and families. A December 2007 report from the Nebraska Children's Behavioral Task Force lauded the services but criticized the state's system for being fragmented and thus difficult to access.
 

The Nebraska legislature is currently scrambling to decide how to rewrite the law.

Safe haven laws exist in many states in different forms, though Nebraska’s is apparently unique in its flexibility. California’s allows a baby up to 72 hours old to be dropped off at safe haven locations without penalty.

The lessons here are obvious, and it isn’t just in Nebraska that state officials need to work to make desperately needed social services accessible and user-friendly so they reach those who need them most.