Nebraska To Tweak Safe-Haven Law

Copyright © 2008 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Now, a development in a story we covered this past Friday. I talked with a social worker at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska about the state's controversial safe-haven law. It took effect in July and it allows parents or guardians to give up their children at hospitals and leave without fear of prosecution. Many other states have safe-haven laws but they are limited to infants. Nebraska's law has no age limit and of the nearly 20 children that have been dropped off since September 1st, most have been teens and pre-teens. Also, several of those children were brought to Nebraska from other states. Well, today the governor said the law has had, quote, serious unintended consequences. He and state lawmakers announced plans to revise the law to cover only newborns. But they said they may not get to it until the next legislative session convenes in January.

Copyright © 2008 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.