Chambers offers his take on safe haven

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By JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

A year ago, Nebraska was one of  only three states that had not yet decriminalized abandonment of newborns.

By Feb. 13, the state’s Legislature had enacted a safe haven law and the governor had signed it. But it was unique from the rest of states because it had no age restriction.

Last month, the new law was used by parents of 16 older children — no newborns, even though that was the intent of the bill. 

Many Nebraskans have heard — or assumed — that Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers had something to do with Nebraska’s late entry into the safe haven arena.

That would be right.

He didn’t, however, come up with the compromise that allowed older children to be included in the bill. Nor did he try to stop it. 

 “It’s not my job to stop every bad thing,” he said.

Chambers’ hope is that next session, when he is no longer around the  Capitol, senators will repeal the current law and look at the underlying problems causing parents to abandon their babies and children, he said.

“We can’t just talk about it. We need to do something,” Chambers said. “We have the power. As a Legislature we have the power to do something, and won’t.”

The first safe haven law in the country was enacted in Texas in 1999. Other states quickly followed.

Most of them enacted laws that applied to infants 3 days old or younger; some allowed infants up to 1 month or 1 year old to be abandoned.

State laws varied as to where or to whom they would allow parents to take a baby.

Some required family or medical history; some did not. Anonymity was guaranteed for some. And the consequences of relinquishment differed from state to state.

But many feel the laws have been more or less ineffective. Babies are still left in places they shouldn’t be, and some have died as a result.

Unlawful abandonment continues to be a problem in states with a safe haven law.

Experts say safe haven laws need to be accompanied by  education and mental health, teen pregnancy  and medical services.

“I talk about those issues all the time,” Chambers said.

But nobody listens, he said.

Mark Ells, research assistant professor with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Children, Family and the Law, said child protection experts agree something needs to be done to create a safety net for young mothers.

Chambers says one of the underlying issues in child abandonment is society’s disrespect and non-nurturing attitude toward women.

“What is it in a society that will make a young woman feel so desperate that she cannot hold onto what may be the most important thing in her life?” he said last winter during debate on the safe haven bill. 

Women have a lack of self-esteem, self-worth, self-respect, he said.

Young men and women need sex education, he said, and prenatal and postnatal care for poor women and girls. And counseling.

Chambers believes there’s an attitude in this state that youngsters should be kept ignorant about sex.

“I don’t think ignorance benefits anybody,” he said. “They need sex education, and they need it in the schools.”

Education — not just abstinence-only education — would help  boys and girls learn  how their bodies function, about contraception, and how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases, he said. It would offer counseling about relationships and teach about the obligations of bringing a child into the world.

Sexually transmitted diseases have reached epidemic proportions. Out-of-wedlock births now account for more than half of children born to mothers under 30.

It hurts a society when out-of-wedlock births are so widespread, Chambers said. Education  should emphasize the seriousness of bringing children into the world, he said. And parents must understand  they have an obligation to those children forever.

Ells said no matter what a state does for prevention, there will always be those who fall through the cracks.

“You can’t create a seamless web,” he said.

Sex education alone is not going to completely solve the problem, no matter how well it is done, Ells said.

But experts believe a combination of services and education could help. Those could include: 

* More education at hospitals  for new parents; 

* Universal home visits from a nurse soon after the birth of a child to offer education and support; 

* Programs that strengthen families and ensure young mothers are not alienated from parents, grandparents, extended families; 

* Parenting education in schools and opportunities for in-school care of infants and toddlers; 

+ Crisis counseling without having to be involved with the child protection system; 

* Neighborhood support for young families.

The current law has shown that some parents, especially those with older children, have not been able to access support services.

“I worry about any system in which a parent, for whatever reason, can’t find those services,” Ells said.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.