Nov 22, 2008 - 04:06:11 CST
Since Nebraska on Friday limited the age of children who can be left under the state's safe haven law, North Dakota now has the longest period of time parents have to leave a child legally at a hospital.Nebraska lawmakers set a 30-day age limit on children who can be abandoned at state hospitals by parents. In North Dakota, infants - defined as less than 1 year old - can be abandoned at hospitals. Other states vary in the age of children allowed to be abandoned.
Every state in the country has passed such a law. The 2001 North Dakota Legislature passed the safe haven law, which allows a parent, or someone acting on behalf of a parent, to leave an infant at a hospital without facing prosecution for abandoning the child.
Kathy Wilson Mayer, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota, said the law was designed around the scenario of young, single, high-school or college-aged girls who keep pregnancies a secret, receive no prenatal care, give birth at home or in a bathroom, then dispose of the child.
Wilson-Mayer said the one-year period offers the best protection against children being abused or neglected by parents who can't handle the stresses, since infants are vulnerable and fragile.
"I would believe that the year is about the safest time, because that's the greatest risk of time where children are abused or neglected," she said, noting that infants have been shaken or slammed by frustrated parents. "I'm still very supportive of North Dakota's law."
Though many children were abandoned under Nebraska's previous law, which allowed any child under 19 to be left at state hospitals, Wilson-Mayer thinks North Dakota's law is more adequate than the new 30-day limit set in Nebraska.
"I think 30 days is too short," she said.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael.) @bismarcktribune.com
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