Safe havens

In Texas we got used to seeing "safe haven" dropoff site signs at public facilities. I don't think David ever quite got the hang of why such signage was necessary. It seemed odd to him, I suppose, that people might need to be shown where they could abandon their baby. I took the posting of such signs and passage of laws (like New Jersey's) creating the safe haven system as a reaction to those icky news stories about babies being born in a bathroom then left in a dumpster. I don't think it's a new problem, but media coverage certainly encourages legislatures to take action, and thus they did.

I suspect rather than know that newborn abandonment is not a widespread occurrence, but the passage of "baby Moses" laws around the country at least provides a clear course of action for the statistically small number of babies whose mothers know they cannot--or will not--care for them. The baby enters social services system and receives immediate medical care, parent forfeits guardianship, baby is placed in foster care, etc. A flawed approach probably, twisted social welfare, no doubt, and not associated with the healthiest life stories, but not the most horrible fate (see dumpster comment above). At least the abandoned baby Moses is just an infant, with a lifetime of adjustment options available to them, right?

Here's a headline for you:

Neb. parents rush to leave kids before law changes

What the heck is behind this slow steady stream of child abandonment in Nebraska? People are even coming in from out of state to drop off their children. Not infants, mind you, which is what I'm pretty sure safe haven laws and locations were meant to handle, but school age--in some cases high school age--children. Did all the other states with safe haven laws specify an age limit for legal abandonment, and Nebraska somehow tapped into an unknown market--those who wish to dump off their kids? With the national media spotlight on them, the Nebraska legislature is scurrying to put a tight lid on the can of worms they opened. What a sad, sad story all the way around.

Now, I've worked with a fair number of adolescents in my time, and I see where they can be a handful. Parents have their own problems, and the angst and drama that comes with one's children awkwardly and insistently asserting independence can wear on the most placid of adult caretakers. But to abandon one's child because all of a sudden parenting is just too much? Wow. Isn't this part of the experience, part of, oh, I dunno, life? I'm thinking the issue is not with the kid so much as with the parent (actually, I'm beyond thinking to knowing). If this is indeed the reason behind parents abandoning children (which is an assumption on my part, as I've not followed this news story closely), then it is yet another sign that we as a society would benefit from intensive therapy.

I take that back, I don't think therapy would benefit us all, I know it. Start facing and dealing with your problems, people, before you procreate. Pretty please.

Is there a safe haven out there for know it alls? :)