Neb. 'safe-haven' law allows abandonment of teens

dv8grl · 09-26-2008, 05:58 PM

Neb. dad who left 9 kids says he was overwhelmed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/...rORo5j6s0 NUE

OMAHA, Neb. - An out-of-work widower who abandoned nine of his children at a hospital under Nebraska's new safe haven law said he was overwhelmed without his wife and just "fell apart." "I hope they know I love them," Gary Staton told KETV. "I hope their future is better without me around them."

The unique law allows caregivers to abandon babies and teenagers alike at hospitals without fear of prosecution. Originally intended to protect infants, it was expanded in a legislative compromise to protect any "child." Some have interpreted that to mean anyone under 19.

Staton anonymously left the five boys and four girls — ages 1 to 17 — at Creighton University Medical Center's emergency room on Wednesday night. He has a 10th child, a daughter who is 18 and was not dropped off.

A number of relatives have volunteered to take the siblings, said Kathie Osterman, a spokeswoman for the state department Health and Human Services.

Staff members were doing required background checks Friday in hopes of placing the children in the next few days, she said.

Staton said his wife died early last year, shortly after delivering their youngest child. He said he quit his job because of his family responsibilities but couldn't pay rent or utilities or take care of his kids.

"I was with her for 17 years, and then she was gone," he said of his late wife. "What was I going to do? We raised them together. I didn't think I could do it alone. I fell apart. I couldn't take care of them."

Staton said he surrendered them so they would be safe.

A call Friday to a number listed for Staton went unanswered.

A 2007 interview with Staton's oldest daughter in Omaha North High School's student newspaper said she shouldered some of the parenting duties at home. Despite helping to feed her siblings, check their homework and put them to bed, the teen managed to graduate a year early.

Once a child is abandoned under the safe haven law, the courts become involved. Parental rights don't end automatically, but parents who change their minds about abandonment may find it difficult to regain custody.

At least 16 children have been abandoned since the law took effect in July.

Hospitals call police when a child is left, and officers will usually place a child in protective custody. Then the county attorney determines whether a child should be allowed to return home and makes a recommendation to a judge.

Now that teenagers are being abandoned, Gov. Dave Heineman, who signed the law, and some other former supporters are saying changes are needed. The Legislature reconvenes in January.

Jolie Rouge · 09-26-2008, 06:00 PM

Scooped me again !!! Great minds think alike, right ?

dv8grl · 09-26-2008, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

Scooped me again !!! Great minds think alike, right ?

I certainly feel sorry for him, after losing his wife. I'm sure hes heartbroken about having to give his kids up. Hopefully those family members will come thru & help raise the kids & keep the family together....

Jolie Rouge · 09-26-2008, 06:04 PM

I would hope so ...family and friends are the best support to have in that type of situation.

LuvBigRip · 09-30-2008, 05:49 PM

OMAHA, Neb. -- The nine children left at an Omaha hospital under the troubled Safe Haven law are out of foster care and living with family members, said the children's grandmother.

Seven of the children are in one home, Joanne Manzer said, and the oldest two chose to go to another home to avoid changing schools. The family said the children are in good spirits.

A fund has been established at any Wells Fargo Bank to meet the immediate needs of the children.

Last week, Gary Staton made national headlines when he left his nine children at Creighton University Hospital, saying he fell apart under the responsibility of raising the kids after his wife died of a brain aneurysm.

"I hope they know I love them," Staton said last week. "I hope their future is better without me around them."

http://www.ketv.com/cnn-news/17591420/detail.html

Jolie Rouge · 10-02-2008, 01:56 PM

Kin of 9 abandoned kids say they would've helped
By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 39 minutes ago

OMAHA, Neb. - The grandparents of nine children who were given up by their father under Nebraska's unique safe-haven law said Thursday that they wished he would have come to them for help.

Jack Manzer told NBC's "Today" show that his son-in-law, Gary Staton, could have brought the children, ages 1 to 17, to his house. Manzer said Staton asked for help in the past. "We don't understand," said Manzer's wife, Joanne. "We would have liked him to come to us for help."

Instead, Staton left nine of his 10 children at Creighton University Medical Center last week under the new safe-haven law. He did not bring his oldest daughter, 18-year-old Amoria Micek.

Staton said he surrendered the children because he was overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for them since his wife, the Manzer's daughter, died early last year. Micek told "Today" that her father was worried about losing their home. "He was more overwhelmed and didn't know how to handle the situation," she said.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has tried to place the nine siblings with relatives until permanent custody is decided. Seven were taken in by an aunt, but a Douglas County judge on Wednesday ordered them back to foster care. She said some of the children were sharing beds while others slept on air mattresses.

The state has appealed the order, saying it's in the children's best interests to stay together with a relative.

The two oldest children chose to go to another home to avoid changing schools.

The state's safe-haven law permits caregivers to leave children at hospitals without fear of prosecution. Like laws in other states, Nebraska's was intended to protect infants. But the Nebraska law was written to include the word "child," which wasn't defined in the law.

At least 16 children, some of them teenagers, have been abandoned since the law took effect in July.

A group of state lawmakers has been discussing possible changes to the law.

___

On the Net:

NBC's "Today": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.hhs.state.ne.us

Nebraska Legislature: http://www.unicam.state.ne.us

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081002/...3_vgP16_NH2ocA

gmyers · 10-02-2008, 07:09 PM

With that many young children and him being unemployed. Seems like he could have got medicaid or SSA payments to help him. Sounds like he's over whelmed and depressed over losing his wife. I really believe he could have got help with supporting them financially.

Jolie Rouge · 10-08-2008, 01:39 AM

14-year-old Iowa girl abandoned under Nebraska law
By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 53 minutes ago

OMAHA, Neb. - A 14-year-old Iowa girl was abandoned Tuesday in Nebraska under its safe haven law, but the person who left her could face prosecution in the girl's home state, Nebraska health officials said.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the girl is from Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha. She was left at Creighton University Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon, and her case was reported to Iowa authorities.

The girl is the 17th child overall and the first from another state to be abandoned since the law took effect in July.

It was meant to protect the lives of infants by letting a parent leave them at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution, but the law doesn't set any age limit.

The law's legal protections might not apply since the girl is not from Nebraska, said Todd Landry, director of the department's division of Children and Family Services. "We have made a formal report of the abandonment to the Iowa child abuse hotline," Landry said in a statement. "We are working with the Iowa Department of Human Services to resolve this situation as quickly as possible."

Nebraska HHS spokeswoman Jeanne Atkinson said few details were known Tuesday evening because the girl's situation was still being investigated.

Creighton hospital spokeswoman Kathy Brennan said she didn't know the circumstances of the girl's case. Hospitals in previous safe-haven cases have called police and turned the abandoned child over, and Omaha police have referred questions to state health officials.

Health officials have stressed that parents should seek other resources before resorting to abandonment. They've urged desperate parents to ask for help from family, faith-based groups and other community services.

Many children left to date under the safe-haven law have been teenagers or preteens. The law mentions "child" without defining it, and as a result encompasses anyone up to age 19.

Nine children abandoned last month were siblings abandoned by a father who said he was overwhelmed.

State lawmakers are already discussing changes to the law they passed in the spring, but they may not be able to act until the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Gov. Dave Heineman has been reluctant to call a special session of the Legislature.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/....XD3L_0ttH2ocA

On the Net: DHHS safe-haven page: http://www.hhs.state.ne.us/Children_...ces/SafeHaven/

luvcub · 10-08-2008, 01:54 AM

thank god for grannies,we make sure all is well.

jeanea33 · 10-08-2008, 09:07 AM

The parents should be made to pay support. Teens are hard work. I am sure that this will screw up a few kids. Can you imagine how that kid feels when the parent dumps them. Just makes me mad that people used a loop hole to
dump teenagers. Also guess they sucked at parenting. They raised the teen to the bad asses they claim they are now.

Shadowcat_99 · 10-08-2008, 10:44 AM

Ok, I'm in Omaha, where this is all going on, and am posting the link to the articles about the parents/guardians who left many of these kids. This was (imho) a badly worded bill with the best of intentions, however, with what has been happening it's making it painfully clear that families/guardians need much more help with many kids (who have some major problems) that is available in our neck of the woods...

And in all truth, this may have happened anywhere in the USA if this same bill was passed in any other state.

Just a sad state of affairs currently.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pag...u_sid=10444742

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pag...u_sid=10450075

09-26-2008, 05:58 PM	#23 (permalink)
dv8grl Navy Veteran Against War! Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Nashville Posts: 5,826 iTrader: (46) Thanks: 1,014 Thanked 598 Times in 327 Posts	Neb. dad who left 9 kids says he was overwhelmed http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/...rORo5j6s0 NUE OMAHA, Neb. - An out-of-work widower who abandoned nine of his children at a hospital under Nebraska's new safe haven law said he was overwhelmed without his wife and just "fell apart." "I hope they know I love them," Gary Staton told KETV. "I hope their future is better without me around them." The unique law allows caregivers to abandon babies and teenagers alike at hospitals without fear of prosecution. Originally intended to protect infants, it was expanded in a legislative compromise to protect any "child." Some have interpreted that to mean anyone under 19. Staton anonymously left the five boys and four girls — ages 1 to 17 — at Creighton University Medical Center's emergency room on Wednesday night. He has a 10th child, a daughter who is 18 and was not dropped off. A number of relatives have volunteered to take the siblings, said Kathie Osterman, a spokeswoman for the state department Health and Human Services. Staff members were doing required background checks Friday in hopes of placing the children in the next few days, she said. Staton said his wife died early last year, shortly after delivering their youngest child. He said he quit his job because of his family responsibilities but couldn't pay rent or utilities or take care of his kids. "I was with her for 17 years, and then she was gone," he said of his late wife. "What was I going to do? We raised them together. I didn't think I could do it alone. I fell apart. I couldn't take care of them." Staton said he surrendered them so they would be safe. A call Friday to a number listed for Staton went unanswered. A 2007 interview with Staton's oldest daughter in Omaha North High School's student newspaper said she shouldered some of the parenting duties at home. Despite helping to feed her siblings, check their homework and put them to bed, the teen managed to graduate a year early. Once a child is abandoned under the safe haven law, the courts become involved. Parental rights don't end automatically, but parents who change their minds about abandonment may find it difficult to regain custody. At least 16 children have been abandoned since the law took effect in July. Hospitals call police when a child is left, and officers will usually place a child in protective custody. Then the county attorney determines whether a child should be allowed to return home and makes a recommendation to a judge. Now that teenagers are being abandoned, Gov. Dave Heineman, who signed the law, and some other former supporters are saying changes are needed. The Legislature reconvenes in January. __________________ FIGHT GREED!

09-26-2008, 06:00 PM	#24 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,955 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 737 Thanked 1,400 Times in 761 Posts	Scooped me again !!! Great minds think alike, right ? __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

09-26-2008, 06:04 PM	#26 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,955 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 737 Thanked 1,400 Times in 761 Posts	I would hope so ...family and friends are the best support to have in that type of situation. __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

09-30-2008, 05:49 PM	#27 (permalink)
LuvBigRip I loves my puppeh! Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Purple Mountains Majesty Posts: 4,546 iTrader: (26) Thanks: 416 Thanked 1,578 Times in 534 Posts	OMAHA, Neb. -- The nine children left at an Omaha hospital under the troubled Safe Haven law are out of foster care and living with family members, said the children's grandmother. Seven of the children are in one home, Joanne Manzer said, and the oldest two chose to go to another home to avoid changing schools. The family said the children are in good spirits. A fund has been established at any Wells Fargo Bank to meet the immediate needs of the children. Last week, Gary Staton made national headlines when he left his nine children at Creighton University Hospital, saying he fell apart under the responsibility of raising the kids after his wife died of a brain aneurysm. "I hope they know I love them," Staton said last week. "I hope their future is better without me around them." http://www.ketv.com/cnn-news/17591420/detail.html __________________ It all goes downhill from here

10-02-2008, 01:56 PM	#28 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,955 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 737 Thanked 1,400 Times in 761 Posts	Kin of 9 abandoned kids say they would've helped By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 39 minutes ago OMAHA, Neb. - The grandparents of nine children who were given up by their father under Nebraska's unique safe-haven law said Thursday that they wished he would have come to them for help. Jack Manzer told NBC's "Today" show that his son-in-law, Gary Staton, could have brought the children, ages 1 to 17, to his house. Manzer said Staton asked for help in the past. "We don't understand," said Manzer's wife, Joanne. "We would have liked him to come to us for help." Instead, Staton left nine of his 10 children at Creighton University Medical Center last week under the new safe-haven law. He did not bring his oldest daughter, 18-year-old Amoria Micek. Staton said he surrendered the children because he was overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for them since his wife, the Manzer's daughter, died early last year. Micek told "Today" that her father was worried about losing their home. "He was more overwhelmed and didn't know how to handle the situation," she said. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has tried to place the nine siblings with relatives until permanent custody is decided. Seven were taken in by an aunt, but a Douglas County judge on Wednesday ordered them back to foster care. She said some of the children were sharing beds while others slept on air mattresses. The state has appealed the order, saying it's in the children's best interests to stay together with a relative. The two oldest children chose to go to another home to avoid changing schools. The state's safe-haven law permits caregivers to leave children at hospitals without fear of prosecution. Like laws in other states, Nebraska's was intended to protect infants. But the Nebraska law was written to include the word "child," which wasn't defined in the law. At least 16 children, some of them teenagers, have been abandoned since the law took effect in July. A group of state lawmakers has been discussing possible changes to the law. ___ On the Net: NBC's "Today": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/ Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.hhs.state.ne.us Nebraska Legislature: http://www.unicam.state.ne.us http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081002/...3_vgP16_NH2ocA __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

10-02-2008, 07:09 PM	#29 (permalink)
gmyers Registered User Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 3,535 iTrader: (0) Thanks: 137 Thanked 915 Times in 509 Posts	With that many young children and him being unemployed. Seems like he could have got medicaid or SSA payments to help him. Sounds like he's over whelmed and depressed over losing his wife. I really believe he could have got help with supporting them financially.

10-08-2008, 01:39 AM	#30 (permalink)
Jolie Rouge C & P Queen Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Missin' Mesue ... Posts: 33,955 iTrader: (2) Thanks: 737 Thanked 1,400 Times in 761 Posts	14-year-old Iowa girl abandoned under Nebraska law By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 53 minutes ago OMAHA, Neb. - A 14-year-old Iowa girl was abandoned Tuesday in Nebraska under its safe haven law, but the person who left her could face prosecution in the girl's home state, Nebraska health officials said. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said the girl is from Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the Missouri River from Omaha. She was left at Creighton University Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon, and her case was reported to Iowa authorities. The girl is the 17th child overall and the first from another state to be abandoned since the law took effect in July. It was meant to protect the lives of infants by letting a parent leave them at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution, but the law doesn't set any age limit. The law's legal protections might not apply since the girl is not from Nebraska, said Todd Landry, director of the department's division of Children and Family Services. "We have made a formal report of the abandonment to the Iowa child abuse hotline," Landry said in a statement. "We are working with the Iowa Department of Human Services to resolve this situation as quickly as possible." Nebraska HHS spokeswoman Jeanne Atkinson said few details were known Tuesday evening because the girl's situation was still being investigated. Creighton hospital spokeswoman Kathy Brennan said she didn't know the circumstances of the girl's case. Hospitals in previous safe-haven cases have called police and turned the abandoned child over, and Omaha police have referred questions to state health officials. Health officials have stressed that parents should seek other resources before resorting to abandonment. They've urged desperate parents to ask for help from family, faith-based groups and other community services. Many children left to date under the safe-haven law have been teenagers or preteens. The law mentions "child" without defining it, and as a result encompasses anyone up to age 19. Nine children abandoned last month were siblings abandoned by a father who said he was overwhelmed. State lawmakers are already discussing changes to the law they passed in the spring, but they may not be able to act until the Legislature reconvenes in January. Gov. Dave Heineman has been reluctant to call a special session of the Legislature. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/....XD3L_0ttH2ocA On the Net: DHHS safe-haven page: http://www.hhs.state.ne.us/Children_...ces/SafeHaven/ __________________ Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT!** Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

10-08-2008, 01:54 AM	#31 (permalink)
luvcub Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Az Posts: 1,528 iTrader: (1) Thanks: 2,267 Thanked 443 Times in 277 Posts	thank god for grannies,we make sure all is well. __________________ Dont cry over spilled milk,milk another cow

10-08-2008, 09:07 AM	#32 (permalink)
jeanea33 My Granddaughter... Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Washington state Posts: 729 iTrader: (1) Thanks: 395 Thanked 247 Times in 118 Posts	The parents should be made to pay support. Teens are hard work. I am sure that this will screw up a few kids. Can you imagine how that kid feels when the parent dumps them. Just makes me mad that people used a loop hole to dump teenagers. Also guess they sucked at parenting. They raised the teen to the bad asses they claim they are now. __________________ Merry Christmas

10-08-2008, 10:44 AM	#33 (permalink)
Shadowcat_99 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 201 iTrader: (0) Thanks: 150 Thanked 54 Times in 24 Posts	From a Nebraskan Ok, I'm in Omaha, where this is all going on, and am posting the link to the articles about the parents/guardians who left many of these kids. This was (imho) a badly worded bill with the best of intentions, however, with what has been happening it's making it painfully clear that families/guardians need much more help with many kids (who have some major problems) that is available in our neck of the woods... And in all truth, this may have happened anywhere in the USA if this same bill was passed in any other state. Just a sad state of affairs currently. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pag...u_sid=10444742 http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pag...u_sid=10450075 __________________

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