The LAW & LAWYERS Blog

Nebraska lawmakers voted today to restrict the age of a child that can be dropped off at a hospital without the parents facing prosecution. According to CNN, the state Senate- the only chamber in Nebraska’s Legislature- approved final passage of the revision. This change will totally dismantle the current version of the law, which has no age limitation. The new version of the law will state that no child older than 30 days old can be dropped off at a Nebraska hospital.

To date, 35 children have been dropped off at Nebraska hospitals since the law took effect in September. All but six of the children were older than 10. Officials also stated that no infants were among those left at area hospitals. One commentator described this phenomenon as exposing America’s “dirty little secret” - that parents are having a tough time with parenting skills and issues. While the amendment to the Nebraska law solves one state issue as to the true intent of the statute, a greater problem looms. This issue being the availability of help for parents feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of raising a non-infant.

As one director of family services observed, parents should not wait until they are in the moment of crisis, they should reach out for help from family and friends as soon as possible. Hopefully, this piece of advice will aid those who are currently feeling the stress of parenting.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.