***

Please see these two action alerts on what can still be done about the Nebraska dump law, there is still time to demand nothing short of a full repeal/age it down to Zero!

• Bastard Nation Action Alert- URGENT: REPEAL NEBRASKA LB 157. STOP CHILD DUMPING!
• Thursday Action Alert

***

This is just a quick post, adding a copy of my letter to the Nebraska legislators that was e-mailed out yesterday to the site.

Dear Senator,

I am writing to encourage you to support nothing short of full and permanent repeal of Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment law.

In practice, due to the constrains of the special session the most expedient way to effect an end to child dumping in Nebraska would be to age the so called “Safe Haven” law down to Zero point Zero (0.0).

The 30 days and under “solution” is anything but.

It will still fail to address:

• the ways the Nebraska “safe haven” law circumvents the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
• the child’s lifelong needs, such as need for medical, social, genetic, and cultural history
• how the “safe haven” law can be used to cover crimes such as rape and incest
• women’s medical needs, as the law encourages hidden pregnancies and secret births far from medical care
• out of state child dumping, as Nebraska’s date will be higher than some other states, out of state abandonments could still be a factor
• and numerous other concerns

Even as the Unicam has been in the Special Session this week, another 15 year old-girl was dumped Tuesday, and a second girl, whose parent attempted to “safe haven” her is still on the run, having fled the hospital rather than endure legalized abandonment.

The Nebraska DHHS figures place the latest girl left as number 36, but my co-author and I on our blog concerning the Nebraska legalized abandonment cases, Children of Corn (http://cornkids.blogspot.com/), have discovered at least 12 other “unofficial” cases of attempted use of the “safe haven” law via media reports, putting a more realistic total at closer to 48 kids who have in some way interacted with the “safe haven” process.

You can find a copy of our statistics and child by child timeline of the Nebraska abandonments here, (http://cornkids.blogspot.com/2008/11/chidlren-of-

corn-nebraskas-dumped.html.)

Regrettably, all LB 1 (with the 30 day cut off date) will do is create a second set of kids abandoned, when in so many ways, Nebraska has yet to even begin to deal with the long term needs of the first set of kids abandoned under the legalized abandonment law.

Any date set, be it 3 days or 30, or even 3 years is still an arbitrary date. There will always be kids on each side of that arbitrarily chosen and artificially created line.

This goes against the very spirit of the motto emblazoned upon the Nebraska State seal, “Equality Before the Law.”

Legalized child abandonment creates a class of people receiving inequitable treatment, with lifelong effects.

Speaking as an adopted adult myself, please hear me when I say that events early in a child’s life, whether they can personally remember them or not, still affect that person in a lifelong manner.

As my adoption records are sealed, I have no way of personally knowing the circumstances surrounding my first days. I have no way to know whether I was abandoned at the hospital where I was born or not as a court order unsealing my records would be required for me to find out. From what I have been told, I was in foster care for a time before my adoption. I know firsthand that going through life with question marks where other people usually have answers can at times be difficult. Knowing that those question marks are not a byproduct of natural process, but are rather the result of a state created process, and having concrete measurable ways in which my treatment under law is different from that of my peers, and of family members has led me to one very simple conclusion, being treated differently under law merely based upon accident of birth is a form of injustice.

If LB 1 passes, some kids are going to be on one side of an artificially constructed line, and others are going to be on another. The creation of the line itself is the problem, it is an arbitrary construction. Governor Heineman has in some ways placed before you an impossible task: deciding which kids it’s ok to abandon and which kids it’s not ok to abandon.

The answer from the kid’s point of view is that it’s NEVER ok to abandon.

The legalized abandonment law does harm. Harm that is pushed down upon some of the most vulnerable and youngest citizens, those least able to speak out in defense of their own rights and long term interests.

Please, before it is too late for yet another set of Nebraska’s children, reconsider.

Work to age the law down to zero point zero (0.0) such that child abandonment is no longer enabled and encouraged by Nebraska state law.

Work to fully REPEAL any law that even pretends dumping children could ever be a “good thing”.

Kids are counting on you to get this right.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Lauren Sabina Kneisly
co-author of Children of the Corn (http://cornkids.blogspot.com/)

[personal contact information removed]

(photo: Japaneselifestyle)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

Please see these two action alerts on what can still be done about the Nebraska dump law, there is still time to demand nothing short of a full repeal/age it down to Zero!

• Bastard Nation Action Alert- URGENT: REPEAL NEBRASKA LB 157. STOP CHILD DUMPING!
• Wed. Update/Action Alert

***

Today, instead of working to (age) Zero out the dump law, which would save the next generation of kids the anguish of enduring the lifelong effects of child abandonment the Unicam took it easy.

Other than two resolutions:

• LR9 – Congratulate Dallas J. McMurtrey for earning the rank of Eagle Scout

• LR10 – Congratulate the Ewing High School girls’ volleyball team for winning the Class D-2 state championship

and some legislative confirmation reports, (link opens a PDF), and votes, today’s been pretty quiet. Not to fear though, legislators will still be paid, after all, the Nebraska constitution requires no final vote on the dump bill can be made before tomorrow.

Legislators are set to wash their hands of it during tomorrow’s 9 am (Central) session.

Their dump law 2.0 is set to comtinue the lifelong damage to a new and younger set of kids, only this time, the kids will be a bit less likely to go on TV and say things like:

“I don’t want anything to happen to kids like it happened to me,”

Instead State Senators are counting on media-genic and silent little armfuls of cuteness 30 days old or less. Kids who later, as they grow up, could certainly give today’s legislators an earful of what they think of having been abandoned with the state’s enabling and encouragement, but for the time being, will be rendered nothing more than ‘cute’.

As today was by and large little more than killing time for the Unicam, I figured I’d bring readers a little more of the flavor of yesterday’s session via this article, Senators pass 30-day limit on first-round debate.

When I say they’re treating this as a done deal, I mean it.

Senator Chambers:

A safe haven bill that will allow parents to legally abandon an infant up to 30 days old is headed toward the station.

And Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers — who Monday likened the bill to a runaway train — sang “toot, toot” during floor debate Tuesday.

Senator Nantkes:

Lincoln Sen. Danielle Nantkes took a long-term perspective.

“A human service system devoid of leadership and appropriate funding … over the course of many, many years brings us to this point,” she said.

“Those are not unintended consequences,” she said of the drop-offs. “Those are serious consequences.”

Then she pointed to the other problems facing Health and Human Services, including potential loss of federal funding for the Beatrice State Developmental Center for Nebraskans with developmental disabilities.

“How many task forces do we need? How many class action lawsuits do we need? How many Department of Justice investigations do we need?”

Senators McDonald and Preister:

Several senators also suggested that finding a real solution will cost money.

Many Nebraskans pride themselves on saving dollars, said Sen. Vickie McDonald, one of 16 senators who will not be returning in January.

“The biggest concern is that this is going to cost money,” she said. “So I challenge you to make sure you fund this program so we have services across the state for all our children who are mentally disturbed.”

Nebraskans want things cheap, said Omaha Sen. Don Preister.

“Our children are under siege and largely it’s because we are cheap,” he said.

“We closed mental health facilities to save dollars. Being cheap. Now we are looking at only a three-day (changed to 30 days) safe haven law. Being cheap,” he said.

“I don’t think being cheap is economical.”

Senator Ashford:

The 30 days allows moms with postpartum depression to give up infants, but doesn’t interfere with the traditional system of legally relinquishing babies for adoption, said Sen. Brad Ashford, Judiciary Committee chairman.

As I wrote back on September 28th:

Nebraska can do better. All 50 states can do better.

Child abandonment is evidence of a severely broken system. Passing the hard effects of that down to children, those least able to cope with such is nothing less than a cowardly shirking of duty. It is the ugly admission that some people feel the problems are simply ‘too big’, and rather than tackle them, they leave kids to deal with the consequences, personally, as best they can.

Dump laws are intrinsically bad for kids. They are intrinsically harm based.

It’s time to stop mumbling about the possibility of coming up with ‘new and improved’ ways for the state to encourage child abandonment and instead realize that there is no such thing as a ‘good’ child abandonment law.

Now as we go into the very tail end of special session, it’s time to let legislators know, 30 days is no solution, it’s merely a continuation of very problems dump law 1.0- the original version that brought in the older kids exposed to the light of day.

Again, I urge you to contact Nebraska state legislators and remind them to stop burning what little time the next batch of kids have left.
Permanently Repeal the legalized child abandonment law, age it down to Zero.

Protect Nebraska’s children from suffering the lifelong consequences of being abandoned.

Here is the Nebraska Legislators main list (each entry has contact information & phone)

and

E-mail address for those that have them:

Adams, Greg – gadams@leg.ne.gov
Aguilar, Ray – raguilar@leg.ne.gov
Ashford, Brad – bashford@leg.ne.gov
Avery, Bill – bavery@leg.ne.gov
Burling, Carroll – cburling@leg.ne.gov
Carlson, Tom – tcarlson@leg.ne.gov
Christensen, Mark – mchristensen@leg.ne.gov
Cornett, Abbie – acornett@leg.ne.gov
Dierks, Cap – mdierks@leg.ne.gov
Dubas, Annette – adubas@leg.ne.gov
Engel L. Patrick – lengel@leg.ne.gov
Erdman, Philip – perdman@leg.ne.gov
Fischer, Deb – dfischer@leg.ne.gov
Flood, Mike – mflood@leg.ne.gov
Friend, Mike – mfriend@leg.ne.gov
Fulton, Tony – tfulton@leg.ne.gov
Gay, Tim – tgay@leg.ne.gov
Hansen, Thomas – thansen@leg.ne.gov
Harms, John – jharms@leg.ne.gov
Heidemann, Lavon – lheidemann@leg.ne.gov
Howard, Gwen – ghoward@leg.ne.gov
Hudkins, Carol – chudkins@leg.ne.gov
Janssen, Ray – rjanssen@leg.ne.gov
Johnson, Joel – jjohnson@leg.ne.gov
Karpisek, Russ – rkarpisek@leg.ne.gov
Kopplin, Gail – gkopplin@leg.ne.gov
Kruse, Lowen – lkruse@leg.ne.gov
Langemeier, Chris – clangemeier@leg.ne.gov
Lathrop, Steve – slathrop@leg.ne.gov
Lautenbaugh, Scott – slautenbaugh@leg.ne.gov
Louden, LeRoy – llouden@leg.ne.gov
McDonald, Vickie – vmcdonald@leg.ne.gov
McGill, Amanda – amcgill@leg.ne.gov
Nantkes, Danielle – dnantkes@leg.ne.gov
Nelson, John – jnelson@leg.ne.gov
Pahls, Rich – rpahls@leg.ne.gov
Pankonin, Dave – dpankonin@leg.ne.gov
Pedersen, Dwite – dpedersen@leg.ne.gov
Pirsch, Pete – ppirsch@leg.ne.gov
Preister, Don – dpreister@leg.ne.gov
Raikes, Ron – rraikes@leg.ne.gov
Rogert, Kent – krogert@leg.ne.gov
Schimek, DiAnna – dschimek@leg.ne.gov
Stuthman, Arnie – astuthman@leg.ne.gov
Synowiecki,John – jsynowiecki@leg.ne.gov
Wallman,Norman – nwallman@leg.ne.gov
White, Tom – twhite@leg.ne.gov
Wightman, John – jwightman@leg.ne.gov

-Lauren Sabina Kneisly

(Author of Baby Love Child
and co-author of Children of the Corn.)

(photo: Canadian National Archives)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

Please see these two action alerts on what can still be done about the Nebraska dump law, there is still time to demand nothing short of a full repeal/age it down to Zero!

• Bastard Nation Action Alert- URGENT: REPEAL NEBRASKA LB 157. STOP CHILD DUMPING!
• Wed. Update/Action Alert

***

This morning’s Nebraska special session was quick, slightly over an hour long.

This article from the Omaha World-Herald contains a pretty good summary of the day’s discussion:

Before today’s vote to advance the bill, some lawmakers emphasized that help is available in Nebraska for parents and guardians struggling with troubled older children. Others vowed to improve mental-health and other services for children.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, for example, pointed to existing law that requires law enforcement to take children into custody if they are endangered or mentally ill and dangerous.

“Most of the (safe haven cases) fit within the parameters of this law,” Lathrop said. “We do not leave these families in crisis out in the cold.”

Sen. John Synowiecki of Omaha said although Nebraska has done much in recent years to improve mental health services for adults, it has done too little in the area of mental health services for children. He said that is why some families turned to the safe haven law to get help for their older children.

“Unfortunately, we focused almost entirely on the adult system of care — and I think we’re seeing the results of that,” he said, adding that Heineman is proposing to allocate $18 million to build new mental health facilities for children in coming years.

Sen. Tom White of Omaha, however, said lawmakers should not be too complacent about people being able to turn troubled children over to police. He said police don’t have any place to take mentally ill people once they get them.

“It is a failing of us and this administration to provide necessary acute beds,” he said. “That is what we leave when we close the door on this special session. That is the situation our police officers and our mentally ill citizens continue to face.”

LB 1 (now the 30 day limit bill) was advanced through the second round by a vote of 41-6 (link opens a PDF- the NE Legislative Journal for Day 5 of the special session.)

The final vote may occur Friday.

As Senator Tom Carlson pointed out today, Nebraska Legislators are treating the 30 day limit as pretty much a done deal at this point. (see 30-day age limit for Neb. safe-haven law advances)

“The rails are greased and the train’s heading down the track,” said state Sen. Tom Carlson.

Mind you, it’s a runaway train about the jump the rails, but then understanding that would involve foresight… .

While Legislators may be relaxing and looking forward to getting Friday’s vote over and done with, Nebraska’s kids are just being given a second helping of failure.

After the child welfare catastrophe the Unicam and Governor created last time out, leaving a minimum of 48 kids in LB 157’s (Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment law) wake, now they want to come back for yet still more.

LB 1, if passed will simply ensure a whole new class of younger kids will join their older predecessors in the tragic common bond of state enabled and encouraged abandonment.

Nebraska has barely begun to deal with its first batch of “dumplings,” now legislators appear to want to make yet still more.

State enabling and encouragement of child abandonment guts 100 years of child welfare social policy, of which one of the key goals was to convince guardians NOT to abandon their children.

When the state shifts its role from that of protecting the long term interests of kids to that of encouraging the abandonment of some of it’s smallest citizens least able to fend for themselves, something has gone horribly awry. Enabling child abandonment is not “saving” children, it is instead the very definition of harm, a harm the kids will have to endure for a lifetime.

There is still a tiny pocket of time left to avert impending disaster for the next set of Nebraska’s soon to be “dumplings.”

There is still time to contact Nebraska legislators and tell them in no uncertain terms that abandonment is never good for kids, and that when the state abandons the stance of trying to stop abandonments, all abandonments, it abandons those who need it to stand firm the most: kids.

Please, contact the legislators before it’s too late. Don’t agonize over the wording, short and simple is often best.

Permanently Repeal the legalized child abandonment law, age it down to Zero.

Protect Nebraska’s children from suffering the lifelong consequences of being abandoned.

Here is the Nebraska Legislators main list (each entry has contact information & phone)

and

E-mail address for those that have them:

Adams, Greg – gadams@leg.ne.gov
Aguilar, Ray – raguilar@leg.ne.gov
Ashford, Brad – bashford@leg.ne.gov
Avery, Bill – bavery@leg.ne.gov
Burling, Carroll – cburling@leg.ne.gov
Carlson, Tom – tcarlson@leg.ne.gov
Christensen, Mark – mchristensen@leg.ne.gov
Cornett, Abbie – acornett@leg.ne.gov
Dierks, Cap – mdierks@leg.ne.gov
Dubas, Annette – adubas@leg.ne.gov
Engel L. Patrick – lengel@leg.ne.gov
Erdman, Philip – perdman@leg.ne.gov
Fischer, Deb – dfischer@leg.ne.gov
Flood, Mike – mflood@leg.ne.gov
Friend, Mike – mfriend@leg.ne.gov
Fulton, Tony – tfulton@leg.ne.gov
Gay, Tim – tgay@leg.ne.gov
Hansen, Thomas – thansen@leg.ne.gov
Harms, John – jharms@leg.ne.gov
Heidemann, Lavon – lheidemann@leg.ne.gov
Howard, Gwen – ghoward@leg.ne.gov
Hudkins, Carol – chudkins@leg.ne.gov
Janssen, Ray – rjanssen@leg.ne.gov
Johnson, Joel – jjohnson@leg.ne.gov
Karpisek, Russ – rkarpisek@leg.ne.gov
Kopplin, Gail – gkopplin@leg.ne.gov
Kruse, Lowen – lkruse@leg.ne.gov
Langemeier, Chris – clangemeier@leg.ne.gov
Lathrop, Steve – slathrop@leg.ne.gov
Lautenbaugh, Scott – slautenbaugh@leg.ne.gov
Louden, LeRoy – llouden@leg.ne.gov
McDonald, Vickie – vmcdonald@leg.ne.gov
McGill, Amanda – amcgill@leg.ne.gov
Nantkes, Danielle – dnantkes@leg.ne.gov
Nelson, John – jnelson@leg.ne.gov
Pahls, Rich – rpahls@leg.ne.gov
Pankonin, Dave – dpankonin@leg.ne.gov
Pedersen, Dwite – dpedersen@leg.ne.gov
Pirsch, Pete – ppirsch@leg.ne.gov
Preister, Don – dpreister@leg.ne.gov
Raikes, Ron – rraikes@leg.ne.gov
Rogert, Kent – krogert@leg.ne.gov
Schimek, DiAnna – dschimek@leg.ne.gov
Stuthman, Arnie – astuthman@leg.ne.gov
Synowiecki,John – jsynowiecki@leg.ne.gov
Wallman,Norman – nwallman@leg.ne.gov
White, Tom – twhite@leg.ne.gov
Wightman, John – jwightman@leg.ne.gov

-Lauren Sabina Kneisly

(Author of Baby Love Child
and co-author of Children of the Corn.)

(Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Unicameral Information Office)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

Please see these two action alerts on what can still be done about the Nebraska dump law, there is still time to demand nothing short of a full repeal/age it down to Zero!

• Bastard Nation Action Alert- URGENT: REPEAL NEBRASKA LB 157. STOP CHILD DUMPING!
• End of Tuesday’s session- contact legislators ASAP

***

Regrettably, I do not have time to do a full report on Monday’s public testimony before the Judiciary Committee, at least not right now. That said, I did want to backtrack a bit to point readers at some of what’s online by way of recap.

Here is a PDF of the Judiciary Committee Statement from that Monday meeting with the Committee vote tally.

Other Testimony that was not delivered in person but was sent to the committee includes both my own very brief testimony:

Honorable Members of the Nebraska Judiciary Committee,

I am writing to encourage your support of nothing short of fully and permanently repealing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment law.

I strongly urge you to decouple getting kids and families help from the act of child abandonment.

Due to the structure of the special session itself, if the only option available is to set an age limit on the existing law (LB 157,) I then urge you to set an age cap at zero point zero (i.e. 0.0, such that no children may be legally abandoned in Nebraska.)

Over the last several months I have written at great length, explaining my reasoning as I blogged about the unfolding child welfare catastrophe in Nebraska. My posts can be found my blog’s Nebraska tag here- http://www.babylovechild.org/tag/nebraska/.
Thank you for your time and consideration.

-Lauren Sabina Kneisly

[contact information block removed]

and Bastard Nation:The Adoptee Rights Organization’s important testimony (link opens a PDF). I STRONGLY urge readers to take the time to follow the link and read through it.

A copy of Todd Landry of Nebraska’s DHHS testimony can be found online here.

As I find time, I hope to add other online copies of the publicly submitted testimony. For the moment, this is what I have at my fingertips that are online.

In the mean time, here are a few media reports both on the hearing and on the “Safe Harbor Coalition” action that occurred outside the Capitol.

AP story- Neb. senators told safe-haven law exposes problem

But for many of the roughly 120 people who jammed into a Capitol hearing room Monday, an age cap was secondary to what they said use of the safe haven law has illustrated: A ragged safety net for troubled children that needs to be mended soon.

“We’re trying to decide which hole to put a finger in, meanwhile the whole dike’s falling down around us,” said Topher Hansen, president of the Nebraska Behavioral Health Coalition.

KPTM (Fox/Faux news) Public Speaks out at Safe Haven Hearing

“We have watched hysterical children begging their parents not to leave,” says Ann Schumacher of Immanuel Hospital. “One child pleaded, ‘I’ll be good. I’ll be good I promise.'”

This article also includes the only quotation from a person who had actually been abandoned who spoke before the committee Monday:

“I want you to know that abandonment is a very serious issue that leaves a scar on a person’s life,” says Lyman Wostrel, who was abandoned as a child. “For all my life I know I’ll bear this cross, that what is in my heart, hurts.”

Also from the KPTM piece:

Those parents’ stories have caught the attention of some Nebraskans, who’ve formed what they call The Safe Harbor Coalition.

Members of the new group demonstrated outside the Capitol before Monday’s public hearing. Numerous family organizations are included in the coalition. They say they won’t let senators off the hook in finding a way to help children and teens that need mental and behavioral health care.

“We want to be a resource to support,” says Leslie Byers of the Safe Harbor Coalition. “Once we get past this first step, on to step two of improving the system that not only can Nebraska be proud of, but that our whole nation can be proud of. Because what’s going on here, we’re being watched closely.”

The Safe Harbor Coalition says you can expect to hear more from them as senators debate the issue during next year’s legislative session.

Be sure to see the video off this piece, Safe Harbor Coalition Rallies Outside the State Capitol.

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

Please see these two action alerts on what can still be done about the Nebraska dump law, there is still time to demand nothing short of a full repeal/age it down to Zero!

• Bastard Nation Action Alert- URGENT: REPEAL NEBRASKA LB 157. STOP CHILD DUMPING!
• End of Tuesday’s session- contact legislators ASAP

***

See the Omaha World-Herald article, Hall County teen is 36th ‘safe haven’ dropoff.

A 15-year-old girl has been dropped off at St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island — the latest child left under Nebraska’s safe-haven law.

The Hall County teenager was taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon by her guardian, a relative, says Todd Landry, director of children and family services for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

She’s in a foster home now, Landry says.

She is number kid number 36 in the Nebraska DHHS official tabulation (link opens a PDF) but the 45th “safe haven” related case if you count the 12 “attempts” Marley and I have documented to date. These uncounted cases in the NE DHHS tabulation included “Self havens” i.e. kids who have turned themselves in under the safe haven law only to be turned away, 18 year olds and others.

Here is the Nebraska DHHS press release (link opens a PDF) about the incident.

While “debate” continues inside the Capitol’s halls, kids continue to be dumped outside the walls…

…and at least one teen whose parent attempted to dump her is still on the run. to the best of my knowledge she hasn’t been found yet. (I hope to find time to blog about her separately, later.)

Again, I urge readers to contact the Nebraska legislators and call for and end to all child dumping in Nebraska.

(Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Unicameral Information Office)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

Consider this the late afternoon update to my earlier post today, Nebraska- IMPORTANT mid-day legislative update, Contact the Legislators ASAP!

Nebraska Legislators ended for the day about an hour ago.

As it stands now all the amendments to date on LB 1 have either been voted on or withdrawn, If LB 1 passes in the final vote the Nebraska age limit would be set at 30 days, per AM 5.

They’re scehduled to start up again tomorrow morning at 9am Central. If there’s not a lot of ‘business’ to do, they may meet very briefly to fulfill the special session constitutional requirement and then close for the day. Other amendments could still be added, or those withdrawn could rear their ugly heads once again, so it will be important to keep a watchful eye.

The one bright spot is that for now at least, Sen. Schimek withdrew AM 10 and 11.

Barring a full repeal bill emerging out of thin air, this may very well be what we’re stuck with. Still, due to the constitutional constraints, they cannot take a final vote until Friday, so there’s still time to ask for what we really want.

There is STILL TIME to urge Legislators to introduce a permanent full repeal bill. (Aged down to Zero point Zero.)

Anything less than a full permanent repeal only guarantees yet another class of dumped kids in Nebraska:

Dump bill 1.0- ended up being kids under 18

Dump bill 2.0– would be kids 30 days old or younger

To date the actual voices of those abandoned and those of adoptees have been ALMOST completely absent from the “debate”, but for one man who gave testimony Monday afternoon. (No, I have not had time to transcribe our recording.)

Legislators have heard from Nebraska’s DHHS, from cooperative associations of childrens services providers, from pediatricians, from professional dump law marketers, from children’s advocacy organizations, from those deeply involved in foster care, from the private contractor the state has outsourced sheltering and intake path duties of the dump law to, Project Harmony, to health associations, and the adoption industry and on and on.

They’ve heard the first hand account of a parent who used the legalized child abandonment law and from the Hospitals and staff that have been on the front lines as state authorized dump sites, telling stories of kids hysterically begging their parents not to leave, promising:

I’ll be good. I’ll be good! I promise!

And explaining that in at least one hospital system for every child dumped, other families have been talked into giving one more try. This hardly sounds like a solid fix, it sounds like a delayed disaster. It also implies the numbers, even the NE DHHS numbers, which exclude so many of the “attempted” dumps, are still only part of the picture.

But as for the voices of the abandoned themselves, other than the single gentleman who came in to testify at the very end of the hearing, they are marked by their absence, not by their chair at the table.

And as for adoptees, considering how many of the kids dumped in Nebraska are themselves either adoptees or are or have been wards of the state?

We too, find ourselves chair-less, sending in heart wrenching emails, only to receive form letters back, letters that make it abundantly clear, our voices are not being heard.

That said, here once again is the contact information for the Nebraska Legislators, please remind them that no matter what the age, it’s shameful when the state makes child abandonment its policy. The lasting, lifelong effects of abandonment on the kids themselves are simply never a “positive outcome.”

The only real answer to LB 157- the original Nebraska child dump bill is full repeal.

Aging the dump bill down to Zero point Zero may well be the only way for Nebraska to cease being a dumping ground for children.

ALL of us want to enable kids and families to access help, but legalized child abandonment is no solution, it only creates more problems that last a lifetime and are pushed down onto kids themselves.

The dump law does harm. It needs to be pulled, before still more kids have to deal with the consequences of the legislators’ initial mistake.

Here is the Nebraska Legislators main list (each entry has contact information & phone)

and

E-mail address for those that have them:

Adams, Greg – gadams@leg.ne.gov
Aguilar, Ray – raguilar@leg.ne.gov
Ashford, Brad – bashford@leg.ne.gov
Avery, Bill – bavery@leg.ne.gov
Burling, Carroll – cburling@leg.ne.gov
Carlson, Tom – tcarlson@leg.ne.gov
Christensen, Mark – mchristensen@leg.ne.gov
Cornett, Abbie – acornett@leg.ne.gov
Dierks, Cap – mdierks@leg.ne.gov
Dubas, Annette – adubas@leg.ne.gov
Engel L. Patrick – lengel@leg.ne.gov
Erdman, Philip – perdman@leg.ne.gov
Fischer, Deb – dfischer@leg.ne.gov
Flood, Mike – mflood@leg.ne.gov
Friend, Mike – mfriend@leg.ne.gov
Fulton, Tony – tfulton@leg.ne.gov
Gay, Tim – tgay@leg.ne.gov
Hansen, Thomas – thansen@leg.ne.gov
Harms, John – jharms@leg.ne.gov
Heidemann, Lavon – lheidemann@leg.ne.gov
Howard, Gwen – ghoward@leg.ne.gov
Hudkins, Carol – chudkins@leg.ne.gov
Janssen, Ray – rjanssen@leg.ne.gov
Johnson, Joel – jjohnson@leg.ne.gov
Karpisek, Russ – rkarpisek@leg.ne.gov
Kopplin, Gail – gkopplin@leg.ne.gov
Kruse, Lowen – lkruse@leg.ne.gov
Langemeier, Chris – clangemeier@leg.ne.gov
Lathrop, Steve – slathrop@leg.ne.gov
Lautenbaugh, Scott – slautenbaugh@leg.ne.gov
Louden, LeRoy – llouden@leg.ne.gov
McDonald, Vickie – vmcdonald@leg.ne.gov
McGill, Amanda – amcgill@leg.ne.gov
Nantkes, Danielle – dnantkes@leg.ne.gov
Nelson, John – jnelson@leg.ne.gov
Pahls, Rich – rpahls@leg.ne.gov
Pankonin, Dave – dpankonin@leg.ne.gov
Pedersen, Dwite – dpedersen@leg.ne.gov
Pirsch, Pete – ppirsch@leg.ne.gov
Preister, Don – dpreister@leg.ne.gov
Raikes, Ron – rraikes@leg.ne.gov
Rogert, Kent – krogert@leg.ne.gov
Schimek, DiAnna – dschimek@leg.ne.gov
Stuthman, Arnie – astuthman@leg.ne.gov
Synowiecki,John – jsynowiecki@leg.ne.gov
Wallman,Norman – nwallman@leg.ne.gov
White, Tom – twhite@leg.ne.gov
Wightman, John – jwightman@leg.ne.gov

-Lauren Sabina Kneisly

(Author of Baby Love Child
and co-author of Children of the Corn.)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

(Consider this a personally posted action alert of sorts. Please forward freely with contact information attached.)

Lots of VERY IMPORTANT, and very bad things are happening to Nebraska’s legalized Child Abandonment law right now. See Amendments 10 and 11 below in particular.

This is the Nebraska page on LB 1, and its evolving amendments can be found listed down the right hand side.

I’ve already written about Amendments 1 and 2 on the Nebraska related blog Marley Greiner and I are co-authoring- Children of the Corn

These are new;

AM 4– sets the cut off at 1 year
AM 5– 30 days
AM 6– four months
AM 9– sets an expiration date- June 4, 2009

but the latest amendments are exactly what I suspected were coming;

AM 10– insert “The person leaving such child may remain anonymous.”

(emphasis added)

and

AM 11– insert “The hospital shall not require the person leaving such child to provide any medical history of the child or the child’s family. The person leaving such child may voluntarily provide medical history of the child or the child’s family.”

(emphasis added)

These last two amendments will have GRAVE lifelong consequences for Nebraska’s next set of State enabled abandoned kids.

Now is the time to contact Nebraska legislators via phone and e-mail.

When speaking with Legislators ask for what we really want, nothing short of a full repeal of the Nebraska legalized child abandonment law, age it down to Zero point Zero (no kids at all.)

This will require rejecting LB 1 (and ALL of its amendments to date) and LB 3 entirely, and instead introducing an aged to Zero point Zero bill.


A final vote is scheduled for Friday.

Here is the Nebraska Legislators main list (each entry has contact information & phone)

and

E-mail address for those that have them:

Adams, Greg – gadams@leg.ne.gov
Aguilar, Ray – raguilar@leg.ne.gov
Ashford, Brad – bashford@leg.ne.gov
Avery, Bill – bavery@leg.ne.gov
Burling, Carroll – cburling@leg.ne.gov
Carlson, Tom – tcarlson@leg.ne.gov
Christensen, Mark – mchristensen@leg.ne.gov
Cornett, Abbie – acornett@leg.ne.gov
Dierks, Cap – mdierks@leg.ne.gov
Dubas, Annette – adubas@leg.ne.gov
Engel L. Patrick – lengel@leg.ne.gov
Erdman, Philip – perdman@leg.ne.gov
Fischer, Deb – dfischer@leg.ne.gov
Flood, Mike – mflood@leg.ne.gov
Friend, Mike – mfriend@leg.ne.gov
Fulton, Tony – tfulton@leg.ne.gov
Gay, Tim – tgay@leg.ne.gov
Hansen, Thomas – thansen@leg.ne.gov
Harms, John – jharms@leg.ne.gov
Heidemann, Lavon – lheidemann@leg.ne.gov
Howard, Gwen – ghoward@leg.ne.gov
Hudkins, Carol – chudkins@leg.ne.gov
Janssen, Ray – rjanssen@leg.ne.gov
Johnson, Joel – jjohnson@leg.ne.gov
Karpisek, Russ – rkarpisek@leg.ne.gov
Kopplin, Gail – gkopplin@leg.ne.gov
Kruse, Lowen – lkruse@leg.ne.gov
Langemeier, Chris – clangemeier@leg.ne.gov
Lathrop, Steve – slathrop@leg.ne.gov
Lautenbaugh, Scott – slautenbaugh@leg.ne.gov
Louden, LeRoy – llouden@leg.ne.gov
McDonald, Vickie – vmcdonald@leg.ne.gov
McGill, Amanda – amcgill@leg.ne.gov
Nantkes, Danielle – dnantkes@leg.ne.gov
Nelson, John – jnelson@leg.ne.gov
Pahls, Rich – rpahls@leg.ne.gov
Pankonin, Dave – dpankonin@leg.ne.gov
Pedersen, Dwite – dpedersen@leg.ne.gov
Pirsch, Pete – ppirsch@leg.ne.gov
Preister, Don – dpreister@leg.ne.gov
Raikes, Ron – rraikes@leg.ne.gov
Rogert, Kent – krogert@leg.ne.gov
Schimek, DiAnna – dschimek@leg.ne.gov
Stuthman, Arnie – astuthman@leg.ne.gov
Synowiecki,John – jsynowiecki@leg.ne.gov
Wallman,Norman – nwallman@leg.ne.gov
White, Tom – twhite@leg.ne.gov
Wightman, John – jwightman@leg.ne.gov

-Lauren Sabina Kneisly

(Author of Baby Love Child
and co-author of Children of the Corn.)

(Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Unicameral Information Office)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

Nebraska has an incredible State Capitol, it’s a shame to see it used as the venue where the Nebraska Governor and Legislature are abandoning some of the state’s most needy kids.

Regular readers know, I oppose all legalized child abandonment laws, so while I’m going to detail the latest machinations relating to the ‘new and improved’ dump bills (what I’ve dubbed dump law 2.0) the bottom line remains, if any of these bills succeed, Nebraska will continue to fail those most vulnerable and least able to defend their own rights.

Today Nebraska’s Attorney General weighed in on the likely constitutionality (or lack thereof) regarding LB 3 (Annette Dubas’ two tier bill.)

Via Monday’s Nebraska Legislative Journal (link opens a PDF) we get the details on the Attorney General’s opinion on:

Whether LB 3 is within the scope of the Governor’s call for a special session of the Legislature relating to child abandonment.

Again, we’re deep down in the technical issues of what can and cannot be done within the scope of the special session itself. Back on November 14th (Friday) when LB 3 was introduced, Speaker Michael Flood requested an opinion from the Attorney General on LB 3.

The One-Hundredth Nebraska Legislature began its First Special Session on November 14, 2008. That special session was convened pursuant to a 44 LEGISLATIVE JOURNAL Proclamation issued by the Governor on October 29, 2008, under authority of art. IV, § 8 of the Nebraska Constitution. The Governor’s Proclamation called the Legislature into special session “for the purpose of considering and enacting legislation on only” two subjects. Those subjects are:

1. Enacting legislation to limit the application of 2008 Neb. Laws LB 157, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-121, by reducing the maximum age of children to whom the statute applies; and

2. To appropriate funds to the Legislative Council for the necessary expenses of the extraordinary session herein called.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-121, the statute specifically addressed in the Governor’s proclamation, reads as follows:

No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely upon the act of leaving a child in the custody of an employee on duty at a hospital licensed by the State of Nebraska. The hospital shall promptly contact appropriate authorities to take custody of the child.

Your opinion request, which we received late in the afternoon on November 14, pertains to LB 3 from the First Special Session. You wish to know whether, in our view, LB 3 “is within the scope of the Governor’s call for a special session of the Legislature to enact legislation that limits the application of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-121?” For the reasons discussed below, we believe that it is not.

(Emphasis added.)

I’ll let readers go over the details of why via the Legislative Journal link if they are so inclined, suffice it to say, just as I predicted, to date the only real options the legislature has open to it is setting an age limit (again I advocate Zero point Zero, i.e. no kids at all) and how to pay for the special session.

Much of this opinion is based upon an earlier decision the Attorney General rendered:

This is the second opinion request which we have received regarding legislation proposed for the First Special Session and the scope of the Governor’s call. In our Op. Att’y Gen. No. 08008 (November 14, 2008), we indicated that legislation proposed by Senator Pahls was likely outside the scope of the Governor’s call for the special session.

Much of the first opinion is quoted in relation to LB 3 in the Legislative Journal piece. This paragraph summarizes:

It is well established that the legislature while in special session can transact no business except that for which it was called together. . . . The proclamation may state the purpose for which the Legislature is convened in broad, general terms or it may limit the consideration to a specified phase of a general subject. The Legislature is free to determine in what manner the purpose shall be accomplished, but it must confine itself to the matters submitted to it by the proclamation. . . .

Now how exactly the above relates to these three resolutions:

LR1 – Congratulate the Lindsay Holy Family High School Boys’ Cross Country Team for winning the Class D state championship

LR2 – Congratulate Thomas Wilson Hall for earning the rank of Eagle Scout

and

LR3 – Congratulate Matthew Willaert Wallen for earning the rank of Eagle Scout

is all just a bit beyond my legislative know-how, (but apparently when they’re not busy making yet still more of Nebraska’s abandoned kids they have to do something to fill the time and justify spending that $68,761.)

The Attorney General’s opinion also points out what he feels is beyond the constitutional scope of the special session, (speaking of the Governor):

He has not summoned the Legislature to consider and legislate with regard to other legal, medical or administrative ramifications that might flow from the relinquishment of a child at a licensed hospital or from the exemption from criminal prosecution itself.

and from further down:

…the supreme court’s restrictive view of what legislation is considered germane to a special session call does not allow the Legislature to consider bills which go beyond the specified phase of the Governor’s call and which deal in broad terms with child abandonment, the duties of governmental and private institutions, and the duties and rights of parents. Those additional legislative issues must wait, at this point, until the Legislature is assembled in its regular session.

Which has, just as I said, left their hands tied when it comes to offering any other form of concrete help to Nebraska’s kids and families.

The Nebraska Attorney General lays out very clearly, he believes LB 3:

…if enacted during the special session, is in violation of the Nebraska Constitution and void.

So where does this leave us?

Well for starters, with many hours of testimony that was heard Monday afternoon. (I’ll be working with that later on,) which was almost universally about at precisely what age Nebraska’s unequal treatment under law was going to kick in…2-3 days/that magic 72 hours? 30 days? A 2 month minimum? At 6-8 months? 1 year? 2 years?

As I’ve said before Zero point zero is the only way for Nebraska to ensure all kids receive “Equality Before the Law.” Anything else is an arbitrarily picked point in time that ensures a class of kids in Nebraska receive unequal treatment under Nebraska law.

Governor Heineman laid out his stance in a radio interview:

The governor said today that he’s flexible on an age limit and is willing to work with the legislature.

“Somewhere between 3 and 30 days is appropriate,” Heineman said on a statewide radio call-in show broadcast from KFOR in Lincoln.

So, again, where are we? For the moment anyway, stuck with LB 1, (the 72 hour bill) and the amendments that have been offered to date:

Sen. Bill Avery- AM 1– 1 year
Sen. Chris Langemeier- AM 2– 30 Days

Which is to say so far the legislators have accepted inequitable treatment, now they’re merely quibbling over the exact point that inequality will be applied.

We are still waiting for even one Nebraska legislator to step up and introduce a bill with an age cap set at zero point zero, a bill that would put a stop to the practice of child dumping in Nebraska.

The Attorney General’s opinion clearly leaves room for for a Zero point Zero bill:

Therefore, during the First Special Session, the Legislature may lower the maximum age of covered children to whatever age it chooses, or not at all.

(Emphasis added.)

In fact, given the current constraints of the special session, a Zero point Zero bill would be the ONLY means by which the legislature could effectively repeal the dump bill.

Unless and until that happens, we’re merely debating how many abandoned kids can dance on the head of that legalized dump pin.

A damn sad state of affairs, and one under which Nebraska’s kids will continue to lose.

***

All state enabled and encouraged legalized abandonment schemes fail kids.

Zero out the dump law.

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

I do not have time this morning to fully profile some of the out of state child dumping advocates working on the Nebraska situation, but I wanted to at least put forward at least a few details as we go into today’s public hearing.

Both of these profiles relate to dump law personalities who have worked nationally and claim to be currently working or have worked previously in Nebraska.

Mike and Jean Morrisey, Baby Safe Haven New England

While there is a great deal that could and eventually should be written about the Morriseys, I feel their actions and judgement should be carefully examined. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

These are people who feel it’s appropriate to put sex quizzes such as “How sexual are you?, Compare yourself to Baby Safe Haven New England” on the Baby Safe Haven New England MySpace page.

Unlike most political websties, the Morriseys’ MySpace is littered with pictures of Jean Morrisey such as these:

These pictures are interspersed with a state’s “Safe haven” proclamation and pictures of the Morriseys at various “Safe Haven” bill signings.

With Massachusetts Lt. Governor Healy,

In Hawai’i, receiving a dump law resolution,

and in Vermont at the dump law signing with Governor Douglas.

Perhaps Nebraska legislators and Governor Heineman would care to be next to have their picture added to this gallery?

Again, these are all pictures the Morriseys themselves have placed on the Baby Safe Haven New England MySpace page.

This is what they themselves apparently feel is appropriate for their political activism page.

Lest anyone think such is a one time lapse of judgement, this gallery also on their MySpace page also contains similar:

While the Morriseys are certainly welcome to do such, one really has to question the Morriseys’ judgement when it comes to placing such (amidst the cat calls of her middle aged male fans) on a website supposedly dedicated to advocating public policy relating to children.

(Clearly these are people with no notion what-so-ever of “appropriate time and place”.)

***

Tim Jaccard, Children of Hope, National Safe Haven Alliance

As I wrote several weeks back in a piece entitled Nebraska attempts to slam to barn door, only creating a new set of problems:

But let’s go back and talk about Tim Jaccard himself. It’s time to talk about who some of these people who push dump laws are.

Legalized abandonment organizations across the country (many of which are best described as kitchen table organizations) run hotlines. On the other end of those calls lies a process for dumping, with people like Jaccard sometimes in the middle of such.

Under the dump laws a womyn gives birth, likely in secret, perhaps unattended, if she survives, the resulting newborn is then to be taken to a hospital.

Jaccard, far beyond mere dump law advocate has been deeply involved in making abandonments happen himself, an intrinsic part of them. In People magazine back in 2003, he admitted to assisting in secret births, once in Central Park and “once in a girl’s bedroom while her parents slept down the hall.”*

Yes, that means a hidden pregnancy, Jaccard assisting the secret birth, while the girl’s parents were asleep in the same house. Then the baby being “safe havened.”

Does this sound like the kind of law that fosters good interfamily communication?

Do you think that those parents ever learned of their daughter’s secret pregnancy, or the middle aged man prowling around their house that night making the resultant baby just go away?

Jaccard and others like him are what lie on the other end of the dump laws. They are the practical application of the dump laws.

(* The quote in question was taken from the March 17, 2003 issue of People Magazine.)

This is the latest in a series of posts I have done criticizing Nebraska’s legalized child abandonment laws. You can find my earlier posts via my Nebraska tag.

***

I’ve been carefully studying the parameters of what can and cannot be done to the Nebraska dump law during the special session. If I read the Nebraska Special Session Legislative Journal first day summary (link opens a PDF) correctly, (and if their analysis on it is correct), then the legislature’s hands are in many ways tied.

Essentially, all they will be able to pass would be an age limitation on the pre-existing legalized child abandonment law. Programs to help older kids etc would apparently have to be considered separately in the upcoming session next January.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman in defining the goal of the special session so narrowly, has made it all but impossible for state legislators to do anything until the regular session to actually help these families in need. No matter how much legislators want to tackle the problem and build solutions, the narrow definition apparently means nothing can be done in the special session.

That said, this then provides a genuine opportunity to finally decouple getting kids and families help from child abandonment. If there’s nothing that legislators can do in the special session other than tackle the age limit, then the best thing they can do is put an end to legalized child abandonment, take abandonment out of the equation all together as the ‘costs’ of even trying to get a kid help must never be the world they’ve known, their family, friends, school, and home.

But ultimately Kids and families are not getting the help they need with the legalized abandonment law, doubly so for the 12 “attempted abandonments” not even counted in the official Nebraska tabulation. For those 12 kids, they have been by and large shit-outta-luck, to the point of even being written out of the official history. For them, the Nebraska “haven” was anything but.

The very reason the law was passed in the first place was allegedly to protect kids in immediate danger, yet none of the kids surrendered were found to be in danger of immanent harm by Nebraska’s own DHHS.

Further, the existing law, as we’ve documented here in these blog posts in excruciating detail causes additional harm.

Rather than a second failed attempt at an aged down dump law, (a dump law 2.0) and a missed opportunity, it’s time for Nebraska legislators to take the lead. Join Washington D.C. in being a real haven for kids, where no children can be dumped legally.

Age the dump law down to 0.0.

Within the parameters the Governor has set out, that would be the closest in practice legislators could fashion to full, permanent repeal until January. It would put on the age cap the governor has mandated, but also stop the practice of legalized child dumping in Nebraska.

Any other age limit is arbitrary.

Some kids would be dumpable, some would not. (Just as currently, many arbitrary decisions are being made about which kids will be accepted and which are being rejected.)

Zero point zero is the only way for Nebraska to ensure all kids receive “Equality Before the Law”

ZeropointZero is the only way to be fair. It ensures all Nebraska’s children are treated equally.

Any other age limit artificially creates multiple tiers of differing treatment under Nebraska law.

Speaking as an adoptee from a State with multiple tiers of records access, I can explain in no uncertain terms what it means to be treated differently merely because my birthdate falls on an arbitrarily determined side of an artificially created line. It has meant living daily with the realities of unequal treatment under law.

What kids desperately need now is an advocate, a legislator willing to stand up for them and present a Zero point Zero bill.

As things currently stand in the special session, not one legislator has introduced any form of bill to end the practice of child dumping. The clock is ticking. As I’ve said over and over again, every single day a dump law is on the books is bad for kids.

How many more kids are going to have to undergo legalized abandonment before someone in a position to actually change their circumstances finally stands up to say “enough!”?

Worse, how many more kids are going to have to undergo legalized abandonment under dump law 2.0 as a result of an arbitrarily thrown together piece of legislation that was less than a week from introduction to being enacted?

Kids deserve better than abandonment, at any age.

Zero out the dump law!