I think this law may be coming an easy out for some people who do not want to "bother" with their kids. I can completely understand safe haven laws for infants, and even young children, but if you have made the conscious choice to raise a child, you do not just "drop them" when things get tough. In this particular case, the amount of money that women spent on gas to drive the child 12 hours was probably enough to feed them for two weeks. There are other options. If you truly love your kids and need financial, emotional etc help, there are social services available to help you. I feel bad for these children that they are just "thrown away". If they are in an abusive situation, I completely understand and feel that there should be options avail, but if the parents just want to go party and do not want the responsibility of a child, I do not think we should give them an easy out. (Standing on my soapbox here...) That is one of the things that I think is becoming so wrong with this country. What happened to personal responsibility? To make a law so easy for people to just give up responsibility is the MOST irresponsible decision, IMO. Change the law...keep it for children 5 and under who can be left as safe haven, and have written into the law that if any child feels their life is in danger or they are being neglected or abused, that they have the choice to tell a teacher, priest, etc and the children and then placed in a safe haven situation. But to just be pissed off at your teenager and have the will to abandon them? I do not think so... In the case of the father who dropped off 9 of his kids---he did not even ask his own immediate family for help, he just decided that this was his only option. It wasn't. Let's stop making life so easy for people, people need to be responsible. If you cannot afford nine kids, don't have them. If you cannot emotionally care for a child, teenager etc., don't have them. My child is precious to me, I cannot even imagine a situation where I would abandon him.
I have personal experience with this--I came from a family of four with a mom who was a druggie hippie. Instead of going out and getting a job and taking care of her family, she wanted to hang out with her vietnam protester druggie friends and take us to the beach all day. When she got caught doing so by CPS, she decided to move us to Utah where she heard the welfare laws were easier. When she got us there, she discovered they were not, and two of my siblings went into foster care. She decided to keep two of us, and we were dragged across the country with her, until she tired of us too. I was later adopted, as were two of my siblings. My oldest sibling was raised by her in a commune, and is almost as messed up as her. Am I glad I was adopted? Yes and no. I was raised by a good family, and we have a pretty good relationship. But I was also separated from three siblings (we have all found each other as adults.) The foster care and adoption process messed us all up good. If my mother had just been a responsible person, we would all be together. She took the easy way out, and we paid the price. Instead of enabling people more, we should be holding people more responsible for their decisions in life. My mother chose to have four children, so she should have done the right thing and raise us right. (Stepping off my soapbox)