Politics | 11/14/2008 2:05 pm

The Cider House Worries in Nebraska

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

It was reported that as of today 35 children have been left at Nebraska hospitals under their controversial safe haven law which, although adopted in all states, is loosely structured in Nebraska. While most states limit the drop-offs to small children and babies without repercussion after too many were being left to die in trash bins, in Nebraska children from ages one to 18 are being left at hospitals and now police stations.

Recently, a 17-year-old boy was dropped off, as was a 15-year-old girl on Tuesday in both Lincoln and Omaha. Now other states’ parents are taking advantage of Nebraska’s extensively open abandonment system which took effect in July. One mother recently drove from Georgia to drop off her child. Just last night a five-year-old boy was left behind at an Omaha hospital.

This news started wOw wondering whether the reasons for the widespread orphanages — especially of the 1930s and 1940s — are indeed a possibility again.

No questions are asked when guardians drop off their kids at Nebraska’s hospitals, but when answers do come, guardians have replied they simply could no longer care for the child, or in the case of one man — his five children. Regardless of the reasons, one thing’s for sure: Most of these parents are at their wit’s end. But parental abandonment has only been increasing since the law was introduced.

During the Depression, mothers often faced the heartbreaking decision to place their children in orphanages due to the dire economy. Social services aid, such as food stamps, were unavailable to mothers until the 1950s.

In Nebraska, where the controversial safe haven law is thriving, children are being placed with relatives as first resort, admitted to hospitals or put into foster care. wOw can’t imagine a teenager being the first choice of a foster parent or even adoptive parents.

Where might these children go? Families are in crisis. wOw shudders at the thought of orphanages thriving again. Citizens have called for the revising of the safe haven law and Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman announced that he will call a special session to rewrite the law on November 14. That might solve Nebraska’s problem, but where will all the children go?

Instead of orphanages, most importantly we should be focusing on the family before it gets to this desperate action of abandonment, and the economy, which seems to be driving many to such a distressing act.

Read more about: Economy, Family, Nebraska, News, Orphanages, Orphans, Relationships

37 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Thank you so much, Ro. It is good to run into someone who cares and is willing to get involved in striving for change. Usually when I write either asking for help or just using my own life experience to educate I get ripped apart. In the Change The World section of this site I wrote months ago begging for help. I only got ripped aprt and called names. So I am always terrified to write. But I am trying to raise awareness of America’s own internal Third World country. I am trying to pull people together to help people like me advocate for changes in the system. More than anything we just want to be allowed to help ourselves. Then I would like for the resources to changes our lives for the better to actually exist.

By Christine Cline on 11/16/2008 7:31 pm

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I can’t imagine anyone raising a child into their teens and then giving them up without a valid reason, perhaps thinking the child would have a better life, that they could no longer provide. A woman I knew once told me that I shouldn’t criticize those less fortunate since I might someday be in their situation and find out exactly what it is like. When I heard a woman who lost her job, then lost her auto and driving privileges because she drank to solve her problems, then lost her husband and children because her behavior was no longer tolerated by her husband and family and quickly became homeless. She had been critical of those who were jobless, homeless alcoholics and then she became one. Many people live paycheck to paycheck and when that’s gone, they often become homeless and if there are children involved, what then? Take them where you know they’ll get better care when you can no longer provide it? True, there are other alternatives probably but I know of few Orphanges still in existance and Foster care isn’t as available with budget cuts. I think we will see more and more children being abandoned or left on doorsteps of facilities that might take them when families find theirselves in desperate situations.

By JJ GB on 11/17/2008 8:39 am

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It took me several days to respond to this post. This is something I know a lot about. And all I can say is that the answers to the problems are complex. Well beyond the rhetoric. What I can tell you for sure is that one of the reasons we have such a glut of families in crisis and a system ill equipped to truly handle those families is that the “system” is NEVER going to be equipped for it. There is no government policy or funding that is going to fix what’s happening to these families in our society. I’m not sure i can express this in the way it needs to be expressed. But we as a society have turned over the welfare of our communities to government. And then we’re surprised that they are deteriorating? What truly needs to happen is the adage it takes a “village to raise a child”. And by that I mean… we need to step up as neighbors and community members and involve ourselves in each others lives. We need to KNOW that the family wiht the teens next door (whom we won’t speak to out of fear and disgust) needs our help. As a neighbor you need to approach that 15 year old boy who is a trouble maker and invite him into your life and invite his family into your life and that of the other neighbor, and the neighborhood church…. How many families could be helped and supported every day by those that live withing half a mile of their home if we weren’t so ready to turn over every aspect of our problems to government? Wow… I don’t think i said this well…

By Chrome Toe on 11/17/2008 9:05 am

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I know what i needed to add… I needed to add that I say the above from the perspective of a government person whom society gladly turned it’s problems over to. I worked as a juvenile detention staff, then a probation and parole officer, then a child protective services worker… and I can tell you with unequivocal truth that those systems are not equipped and never will be to do the job that communities, neighbors and family members should be doing.

By Chrome Toe on 11/17/2008 9:07 am

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Thank you for what you wrote. You are absolutely right. The system (government)is not equiped to handle this problem; because, it has no interest in solving these issues. Unfortunalely the explaining of the why would take many pages in its concisest form to layout, so I will not do that here. But, I am glad to have someone corroborate what I have been saying. Living within the system most people tend to not beleive me; as if living the life is not proof enough. But, maybe they will be more willing to listen to a respected “working” person. When it comes to poverty and the Welfare system, somehow one can not be living the life to be an expert in it.

By Christine Cline on 11/18/2008 8:53 am

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You know Christine (well i’m not telling you anything you don’t know if you’re living “in” the system) one of the big problems with “the system” is it’s utter lack of respect for those it serves. It’s an us and them attitude that developed over the years. I was sort of known in the industry as the problem solver. the person to send people to who know one else wanted to deal with because I had a huge concern about peopel getting lost in and abused by the system. I’m a huge believer in being accountable to those you serve. And i wasn’t alone. a lot of individuals who work as probation officers or child protective service workers feel that way. But the “system” eats those that are involved in it. So i’m sorry for that. you seem well aware of it. I was thinking yesterday about a good example that might have expressed what i felt more. And a family i worked with eons ago comes to mind. It was a single mom with three out of control boys. 9yr, 12 yrs, and 15 yrs old. The two oldest were on my probation caseload. They lived in a tiny town about 25 miles out of the city. They lived next door to the one church in town that was very well attended. The mom of the boys was young. she’d had her 15 year old when she was 15. she was not overly intelligent. she was beat down by life. And she was having to work full time to maintain her few welfare benefits (based on the welfare to work legislation). So her boys were home alone all night long as her job was as a clerk at a convenience store at night. Not surprisingly these kids were doing crime. petty crime. stealing, vandalizing that type of thing. The community was up in arms about it and had a big community meeting at the church that they invited me to in order to tell me that “I” needed to get a better handle on these kids. Well…. long story short but before the evening was over we had brainstormed how they as a community were going to step up and help this family with it’s needs. The church agreed to make sure the boys had enough food as they never did. They agreed to work iwth the mom so that one of a couple of different neighbors would be caretaking the boys when mom was at work. The pasto was putting the oldest to work at the church doing some things that needed to be done. One neighbor man kind of took the group under his wing in terms of letting them help him work on his classic cars. I can’t tell you if the concept worked as well as it should have as I left prior to them growing up. But i will tell you it’s the kind of thing that SHOULD be happening and is the only thing that even MIGHT work. Relying on probation officers, teachers and social workers to raised children is a mistake. A big one.

By Chrome Toe on 11/18/2008 9:20 am

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Re-homing isn’t always the best solution, I recently read a letter in a newspaper from a man who, along with his sister, grew up in an orphanage because his father was gone & their mother could not take care of them. He pointed out that they were always clean and well-fed, and that the foster home system vs. orphanages can be a cost issue. I’m really tired of reading about children who are horribly abused in a foster situation where the financial gain was the obvious motive, even though in many cases, the foster parents were family members. Of course, there are many loving foster parents out there as well, but I think we need both systems.

By Rita@ Goldivas on 11/17/2008 6:19 pm