Guess where I am.

[kyburg]

Yaup.

Something that crossed the screen this morning got my attention - check this out:

"The main interest I have is that it gives the mother or a parent another option of what to do with a child before they do something drastic," he said.

Welcome to the latest version of a Safe Haven law - from the last state to develop one. You're familiar with Safe Haven laws, right? Where you can take your kid to a identified location, drop off the kid, and don't even have to wave goodbye?

This one goes to 19. That's years of age, folks.

This has been on the books since July 18th - no case of it being used as such as well, but I'm just waiting for the first really difficult-to-manage kid shows up at an ER.

Comments

[singingpatient.livejournal.com]

yeah but it also gives an out for people who are just lazy. OTOH, it also gives somewhere for folks to go who just can't afford to raise a child. in my family, my "grandfather" (he abandoned the family when my mom was 2, so he is only biologically a grandfather) was separated from his 3 siblings because the family was broke. one child ended up in an orphanage and never got out. after the orphanage he was in various institutions. very sad.

the problem is the public announcement of the lack of commitment. when you're given an easy out, you take it. my uncle duane lived in an institution all his life, but the other 3 kids had extended family raise them, adn they went on to have something of a life.

i'm all for stopping the babies getting thrown away. but for the older kids...
complicated. they will always have abandonment issues.