今日知ったこと:2008年にネブラスカ州で制定された、生後30日未満の乳児を対象とした養子縁組に関する法律に、年齢制限がなかったため、親たちが10歳から17歳くらいの年長の子供を手放そうとする事態が発生した。そのため、法律はすぐに改正された。
【衝撃】ネブラスカ州の子供放棄法、まさかの10歳児も対象に → 即改正へ

今日知ったこと:2008年にネブラスカ州で制定された、生後30日未満の乳児を対象とした養子縁組に関する法律に、年齢制限がなかったため、親たちが10歳から17歳くらいの年長の子供を手放そうとする事態が発生した。そのため、法律はすぐに改正された。
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I aged out of foster care with one of the moms who made national news for driving her teen up and abandoning them under this law. Didnt surprise me at all but I was so sad that her life was still that hard – as it was for all of us growing up. Obviously that’s not the solution but some people are desperate for skills and resources that they don’t have access to, and this proved it.
I remember hearing about this on my local radio show back in HS. The language of the law didn’t limit it to a specific age range, one report they discussed was a family driving across state lines to drop off 3-4 kids, the oldest being 17. I think since it was technically legal at the time they were all put into foster care.
Imma be honest, if these parents are abandoning their teen children like that, the kids are probably better off in an orphanage / foster family or something
People sometimes complain about how verbose legal documents are, but they’re verbose for a reason. They have to make sure the law says exactly what it was meant to say and nothing else. The more simply the law is written, the easier it will be to find loopholes.
I remember hearing about this at the time because it made national news. A reporter was attempting to interview some dude while he dropped off a bunch of kids between the ages of 17 and 5. He just shrugged and had this attitude of, ‘well I can’t deal with them, so now they’re someone else’s problem!’. It was heartbreaking and disgusting.
I really hope those people who were abandoned as kids are doing better now.
It says something about parenthood and poverty. Not sure what exactly. . .
Definitely were a few awkward conversations when the law was amended and a bunch of teenagers learned their parents unsuccessfully tried to give them away
A local teen shelter sees parents dropping their kids off all the time, this doesn’t surprise me.
Anyone else have to read this title like six times?
This was the inspiration for the book Unwind by Neal Schusterman. It’s a young adult book but the last few chapters are completely terrifying.
One man dumped 9 kids. What a piece of shit. I think I remember that his current wife was pregnant at the time as well.
No question they are better off away from him. I always felt that the law made sense as written, but Nebraska on its own just didn’t have the means to really support the level of need.
It’s too bad that, here in the richest country in the world, that we collectively choose to just not take care of our most vulnerable fellow citizens.
So many people should never be parents. Or own pets, either.
I remember when this was passed. People insisted no one would do that.
I am a parent who loves my kids and can’t imagine ever doing anything like this but if a parent can’t look after their kid, either because of finances, health, or just being incapable of parenting, what do they do? If they can’t voluntarily surrender kids isn’t the only option to keep kids in shitty situations until someone finally notices and the kids are taken involuntarily? Obviously, I’d hope there would be supports for parents who are struggling to manage their issues and keep their families in tact but if those don’t exist or haven’t worked, don’t we want parents to say “I can’t cope” rather than neglecting or abusing their children?
My kids are 17, after looking at college tuition … hmmmm…
I’m not from the United States, but I have vague memories of at least *some* of the children being abandoned due to them (the children) having severe health issues, with the parents being forced to abandon them in order to ensure that the children would have access to the healthcare interventions they needed. Is it true?
The poor will be the boogeyman until the masses realize that nobody needs a billion dollars.
People don’t make enough money to pay for childcare. Do I really need to say more? If you don’t have family money and/or support to help with kids, then you are liable to become destitute at any moment.
The quality of life that average people expect to enjoy is a moving target. We keep losing access to bare necessities and are too focused on survival to do anything about it. Leaders are old and out of touch and/or compromised and actively stealing from the poor.
People don’t give up kids because they are lazy and unloving. They do it because they can’t afford it and they are at a breaking point.
They can’t afford it because profits are being taken by the ultra wealthy, while social services and education are whittled away to nothing.
They are at their breaking point because their anger and shame from not being able to provide for their family is weaponized against other poor people.
Why shouldn’t parents be allowed to surrender their children? Isn’t it good to get the kid out of a place where their own parents don’t want them? I can see how it could be abused but this feels like an opportunity to help children out.
My sister lives in Nebraska and the area where she lives is so poor and desolate and ran down that there really is nothing better to do than meth and make babies.
Similar to “window of life” in Poland, still operating, but there was never someone that old left there.
I asked this as a reply: what happened to the older kids who were abandoned before they could amend the law?
Like if you are eight years old or 10 years old or 15 years old and you now know for a fact that your parents can’t take care of you or don’t want you at all – and you’ve now been living with a foster family for 30 days – did they call up your original parents and forced them to take you back?
Damn 17… at that point just like wait a year and kick them out at least jesus
According to a brief Google search, after the law was changed a further 200 children under one year old were still illegally abandoned. Not all were in-state, as people travelled to drop off their children.
But all you’ll hear as a childfree person is “you don’t know LOVE until you have a kid” 🙄
Wouldn’t surrender be better than certain situations?
I always thought that the number of parents in *Unwind* who surrendered their teenagers to be killed by the state was unrealistic, but turns out…
Am I missing something? The article and these comments make it sound like there was a massive wave of people surrendering their kids but the article says it was only 35 kids between 10 and 17 with 9 of them being from one guy.
Sure it sucks for everyone involved but it was no where near as bad as people are making it out to be.
Been there, some days, for sure.
this made me a little ill.
So, the guy who dropped off 9 of his 10 kids…the aunt adopted 7 of them ages 1-14. The article mentions that the 10th kid was already an adult, but what happened to the other two kids? Did she request all but the oldest two or were they taken in by someone else, I wonder? This happened after the wife/mom of the kids died of an aneurysm…I get him feeling suddenly overwhelmed, but damn…as a mom I’d be rolling over in my grave if my partner just ditched our kids after I died.
As horrible as it sounds it was probably better for those older kids to get out of the situation where a parent wants to abandon them. I had a client who was kicked out of his home at 17. CPS wouldn’t get involved but he also couldn’t get an apartment because he was a minor. He was stuck in limbo
It’s hard to cram a 15 year old in a drop slot. But ultimately probably worth the effort.
I guess that could be considered “saving the children” from awful parents.
Guy in the hoodie!! 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Parents straight up “Air Bud”ing their children.
Sounds like Nebraska’s full of shitty Republican parent.
I know someone whose grandfather was put in an orphanage during the depression because his parents couldn’t care for all their kids. Honestly maybe there should be a legal way to handle this.
I mean if someone is desperate enough or just loves their kid so little as to give up their teen then maybe the kids shouldn’t be with them anyway
Man I remember reporting on this. Iirc someone took some (not all) of their kids up there from Florida. One mom was getting rid of her already teenaged son.
I’m just going off memory, but also the ones who were surrendered before the law was amended were kept by the state.
I had a stroke trying to read that
This headline was so hard to read
Ladies and gentlemen…the heartland.