NE law allows parents to dump kids to age 17!

[Jestjoan]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/23/earlyshow/living/parenting/main4470911.shtml

 

[Rose Pink]

Interesting. Unlike a newborn, a teen can tell authorities who his parents are. I can see pros and cons in this. Still, it is sad when families fall apart for whatever reason.

 

[funtime]

I disagree - let's wait to see how the law works. The one example -- a father completely overwhelmed shows that the law worked well. He may not have come forward elsewise and because he did he and his children are getting help including help from family members. Funtime

 

[Htoo0]

I can hear it now- "BEHAVE, or I'll drop you off and let the govt take care of you!" Of course, parents like that probably don't need to be raising children anyway.

 

[rapmarks]

When I was a teacher, I saw many teenagers kicked out of their homes. I can remember two that ended up in prison for burglary, armed robbery, etc. This is better than just kicking them out.

 

[pjrose]

I can hear it now- "BEHAVE, or I'll drop you off and let the govt take care of you!" Of course, parents like that probably don't need to be raising children anyway.

Sometimes great parents can have difficult kids. I wouldn't make that threat, but I could see parents - good ones - getting overwhelmed.

 

[Tia]

I read about the law in last weekends paper. There was a man with 10 kids, whose wife had died, he dropped off 9. The oldest that was 18 he didn't. A situation no one can predict.

 

[charford]

I read about the law in last weekends paper. There was a man with 10 kids, whose wife had died, he dropped off 9. The oldest that was 18 he didn't. A situation no one can predict.

About 1 in 20 children will have a parent die before they graduate high school. The surviving parent struggles mightily with their own grief, the grief of their children, the loss of income, the increased responsibilities.... and no one to share it with. As a widow with young children myself, I would say that the likelihood of a widowed parent with 10 children being overwhelmed is 100% predictable. I am overwhelmed with 3. Widows with zero children are overwhelmed. Losing a spouse is not like losing a friend or an elderly parent. It is like having a stroke, where part of your brain dies, you are confused and frightened. On the outside, you look fine and everyone treats you as fine, after all, wasn't the funeral 2 weeks ago? You should be over it by now. Except you're not and you now have to do the work of 2 people and you can't even do the work of one.

The likelihood of a 2 parent family being visited by the death of one of the parents is 5%, another 5% will have one of their children die. We are a silent "unseen" minority until one of us makes the headlines.

At least now, the relatives of this family see that they need help. It's so much better than having dad go off the deep end.

 

[Htoo0]

Hope no one thought I was against the law. Anyone who would drop off their child probably doesn't need to be raising them anyway. Some may have very valid (and heart-breaking reasons) while others may just be unqualified to have them. IMHO however, any parent who would use such a threat on little children (and I'm betting there will be some) really needs some help.