This is pretty incredible. In July, Nebraska passed a law that allows parents to abandon their children, to turn them over to the state, with no penalty.
The intention of the law was to encourage teen mothers to safely turn over unwanted babies to the state, rather than leave them in dumpsters.
But the open-ended statute allows parents to abandon children up to age 19.
And parents are doing it, according to the New York Times.
Since Sept. 1, to the alarm of officials who call it a misuse of the statute, 17 Nebraska children, mostly preteens or teenagers whose guardians said they were uncontrollable and violent, have been abandoned to the state. Meanwhile, not a single newborn has been left in state custody under the law since it took effect.
Only Sunday, two 12-year-old boys were abandoned in hospitals in Lincoln and Omaha. In a case that drew national attention, an Omaha father abandoned nine children last month, saying he could not cope with the burdens since the death of his wife last year.
