The mother of a Lincoln boy dropped off at a hospital late Tuesday using the state's safe haven law said the family is trying to get help for their son.
JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 7:00 pm
The mother of a Lincoln boy dropped off at a hospital late Tuesday using the state’s safe haven law said the family is trying to get help for their son.
“This is not about us. This is about our son and getting any kind of help we can get for our child,” Sue Quakenbush said.
Her 17-year-old, who was a state ward for a time, has been in a number of programs, she said, including a Cedars group home and the Omaha Home for Boys.
The boy has had several criminal charges, including theft and disturbing the peace.
“I call him my lost soul,” she said.
He has also spent time in Kearney at the youth residential treatment center.
While in one residential program, she said, he attempted suicide by saving and taking three days’ worth of his medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“It’s heart-wrenching. I love my son very much,” she said. “We are not bad parents. … We are not dumping our son.”
She learned Wednesday from a state Department of Health and Human Services worker that her son would likely go into foster care now, rather than a residential treatment program that she thinks would help him.
At that point, she told officials she wanted her son back. But, “they said that was no longer an option,” she said.
She and her husband, the boy’s stepfather, will attend a custody hearing next week, she said.
She said she and her husband have good jobs and insurance. Some programs would not accept the boy because he was not covered under Medicaid.
The state needs to have mental health services for all children, she said, whether they have Medicaid or private insurance, and no matter the parents’ income.
She said she has been trying for five years to find something that would work for her son. He has been turned down twice by the Boys Town program.
Her son was discharged from the state system July 31, and was in and out of trouble up until he left home this past weekend.
Early Tuesday, Quakenbush said, police found him at First Street and Cornhusker Highway, wandering the streets, high on drugs.
They took him to the detox center.
Tuesday night, they called her to pick him up. If she hadn’t, she said, she could have been charged with neglect. That’s when she and her husband took him to BryanLGH Medical Center West.
The boy was the third youth dropped off at a Nebraska hospital in two days, and the 23rd since the law went into effect July 18.
A 15-year-old girl from Douglas County was left by her mother at Creighton University Medical Center on Monday, said Todd Landry, director of the division of children and family services at DHSS.
On Tuesday, a 15-year-old girl was left at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha by her father, officials said.
Nebraska’s safe haven law was intended to be used for infants, but no newborns have been among the children abandoned. On Wednesday, Gov. Dave Heineman called a special legislative session for Nov. 14 to limit the age of children covered under the safe haven law.
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.