Foster care possible for baby

LINCOLN — A newborn dropped off this week under Nebraska's revised safe haven law might have to spend six months or more in foster care unless his parents can be found.

State law allows courts to terminate parental rights after children have been abandoned for six months or more.

That would free the infant boy, who was left at a western Nebraska hospital Monday evening, for adoption.

Getting an adoption finalized could take additional time, said Jeanne Atkinson, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

If his parents came forward and consented to adoption, the process could be speedier, she said.

Atkinson said the baby remained at Box Butte General Hospital in Alliance as of late Wednesday afternoon but would be placed in a licensed foster home soon.

State Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center, a key proponent of Nebraska's safe haven law, said he had hoped the revised law would never be used.

But he was glad it worked as intended, to protect the Alliance boy from possible harm.

“I'm glad that something drastic didn't happen to the boy,” Stuthman said. “We still have a live child.”

The baby appears to be healthy, Atkinson said.

He was hours old when a woman believed to be his aunt took him to the hospital. Atkinson said the woman did not identify herself.

Under Nebraska's safe haven law, the woman who dropped him off and the baby's mother won't be charged with abuse or neglect for dropping off the baby.

The law bars prosecution for leaving a child 30 days old or younger with an employee at a state-licensed hospital.

State health officials and local authorities have asked the public for help in identifying the boy, who they said was Caucasian.

The Alliance baby is the first infant to be dropped off since Nebraska's original safe haven law went into effect one year ago. That law garnered national and international attention because it contained no age limit.

Most of the 36 children abandoned under the original law were troubled teenagers or preteens. Some people traveled from other states to give up their children.

State lawmakers amended the law during a November special session.

The director of a national group that tracks use of safe-haven laws says drop-offs are on the rise.

Tim Jaccard of the National Safe Haven Alliance said there has been a total of 31 relinquishments so far this year in the 31 states the group is able to track. There were 44 drop-offs all of last year.

Officials asked that anyone with information call the HHS office in Gering at 308-436-6559, the Box Butte County Sheriff's Office at 308-762-6464, the Alliance Police Department at 308-762-4955 or the Nebraska State Patrol at 308-632-1211.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com