Candace

Talmadge

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December 5, 2008

Safe-Haven Fallout Motivates Nebraska Legislator

Watch for cutting-edge child-welfare legislation next year out of Nebraska, the state that enacted a truly ground-breaking safe-haven law that once permitted children of any age to be abandoned by parents or caregivers.

That’s the prediction of the legislator who sponsored the original safe-haven bill.

After 35 older children were dropped off between July and November, the cornhuskers modified the law to impose an age limit of 30 days.

The change is not stopping state Sen. Arnie Stuthman, however. The full-time farmer and cattle herder and part-time lawmaker says the response to the original safe-haven law convinced him that existing laws and protective services, both state-funded and private, aren’t doing enough to help keep overwhelmed parents from harming their offspring.

“Look at the big picture,” Stuthman says. “Do we spend a little bit of money now on children or a lot when they are incarcerated?”

Amen to that, Senator. We pay extensive lip service to “family values.” Yet we morph into a nation of Scrooges when it comes to valuing families with tax (or charitable) dollars to keep youngsters safe by helping parents do a better job of child-rearing.

Our children pay the immediate price, like Amora Bain Carson, an East Texas baby who just died at the hands of her 18-year-old mother and 19-year-old stepfather. Police say the pair beat and bit little one-year-old Amora to death and they now face capital murder charges.

Capital murder trials in Texas easily cost six figures, while the appeals process can boost the tab well in excess of $1 million – per person. How much would it have cost to provide counseling and parenting skills classes for this mother and step-father? How do we put a price on the child’s terror and suffering while she died?

Seeking to break the cycle of tragedy, Stuthman formed a committee of fellow members of Nebraska’s unique unicameral (single chamber) legislature. They have started an investigation, talking to state and private agencies that focus on children plus some of the parents who abandoned children under the original safe-haven law. They are trying to find out what’s going on and where/how lawmakers might intervene effectively.

Their goal is to come up with new legislative proposals designed to protect the children no longer covered under the revised safe-haven.

If only lawmakers in all 49 other states were as motivated as Stuthman to learn all they can about resources for families in crisis in their states and the ways in which legislators could make a difference.

More money certainly helps, but it’s just one component of any solution. Better ways of communicating about existing services is a big issue in Nebraska and every other state. All too often, parents who might avail themselves of services simply do not know they exist, much less how to tap into the system.

Stuthman and his fellow legislators have already demonstrated a rare openness to innovative approaches to protecting children that other states would do well to emulate. And while they won’t solve every family crisis in Nebraska, what they come up with next might keep a few children from the grisly, dismal end that befell hapless Amora and comes to so many others around the country. If that’s not worth lawmakers’ time and effort, what is?

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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