Nebraska’s Safe Haven Law Attracting Parents Of Mentally Ill Children
Lately, Nebraska is becoming an increasingly popular hot spot for parents across the nation looking to drop their kids into the care of someone else. That’s all thanks to Nebraska’s Safe Haven law.
According to an Iowa Independent article:
At last count 34 children, ranging in age from 20 months to 17 years, have been left at Nebraska hospitals under the auspices of a vaguely written “Safe Haven” law.
Nebraska isn’t the only state with a Safe Haven law, mind you - every state has one. So why are people driving from all over the country to drop their children off at Nebraska hospitals? That’s easy. The age limit in Nebraska is 18, whereas most states require children to be younger than one year old (check out this graph from the Iowa Independent).
Aside from formerly residing in urban areas and being raised in single-parent households, the one thing most of the children have in common is a need - most likely a still-present need - for mental health services. 30 out of the 34 children had received mental health care, and 11 of those children received mental health care “above an outpatient level.”
When I first started reading the Iowa Independent article, one thought popped into my head. Well, two, really. First, how do you explain to your child that you’re driving him to Nebraska and leaving him there? Second, what is stopping some of these older teenagers from saying “screw this” and hightailing it out of Dodge before their parents had a chance to take them to Nebraska?
Naturally, the first thought was the more pressing one.
Yet, as I continued reading the article, I realized that for the majority of these parents, it all probably boils down to one thing: a lack of resources and support for their children’s mental health problems.
George Estle, the executive director of Tanager Place, weighed in:
“If we would have had this same law in Iowa, the same thing would have happened here,” Estle said. “I suspect that if we really look at the kids who are being dropped off in Nebraska - particularly the adolescents - many of those will be young people who have serious emotional problems. My hunch is that parents are utterly frustrated at not being able to access services. So, they are using that law as an act of desperation because they can’t get services.”
And Carrisa Gatley, the single mother of a child with “severe mental disabilities,” said:
“We left Iowa about six years ago because there were no doctors available in our area,” she said. “Now we live in an urban area where services aren’t plentiful, but adequate. At least I know that when there is a really bad day, I’ll have someone to turn to - someone who helps us through the rough spots. Without that support, I might very well have also made the drive into Nebraska.”
Can you imagine what it must feel like for these parents? To have no where to turn but some random (and for some out-of-state) hospital? To feel as if they have to give up their children because they can’t or don’t know how else to properly treat them?
I feel so badly for them. And their children. The whole thing is so very sad and frustrating.
What do you think? Parent or not, how do you think you’d deal with the situation?
POSTED IN: Mental Health Notes
3 opinions for Nebraska’s Safe Haven Law Attracting Parents Of Mentally Ill Children
Liz
Nov 27, 2008 at 9:23 pm
I was wondering the same things as you did in this article. This is definitely worth looking further into.
Neva
Dec 2, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I am the mother of a fourteen year-old boy who has struggled with an emotional disability for many years. His father and I divorced when he was eight and the entire thing was very difficult on him. He witnessed many horrific things in his young life and it all had a profound effect on him. Around the age of ten his behavior at home and at school was completely out of control. He was kicked out of his first school in the fourth grade, and has been kicked out of six schools since. His schools included three day treatment programs and he was kicked out of all of them. I have had him in counseling throughout the years. He has run away from home countless times and I made run away reports each time. The times that he was picked up as a run away I was called from the police station t go and pick him up. I would get him home and he would basically go in one door and out of the other. My son is about four inches taller than me and out ways me by a good fifty pounds. Needless to say I can’t physically restrain him. I have taken him to three psychological evaluations and he has been sent home with me every time. One time I said that I refused to take him home because I could not control him. I was told that department of social services would be called and his two healthy and thriving younger sisters could be taken as well. I didn’t want to give my son away, as a matter of fact I was more concerned with his well being than I was my own. His story is far from over but to make a long story short, I had to fight agencies, lawyers, and judges in order to get my son the help that he needs. I have often wondered about the parents out there who do not have my ability to take on the system? There were many times I wanted give up and countless days I couldn’t see myself facing another day with my son, and I love him. I love him the way any normal healthy mother loves her child and there wee days I wanted to throw in the towel. I think that the parents who took advantage of Nebraska’s safe haven law were making a point. This country doesn’t seem to care about mental health issues until somebody gets hurt. I hope the latest developments in Nebraska will make people think and open their eyes. The parents and children in these situations have all been victims of the system.
A mother’s love
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Dec 3, 2008 at 2:21 pm
[...] week I shared my worries about Nebraska’s Safe Haven law, and the numerous children whose parents were driving them to Nebraska hospitals from all over the [...]
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