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The Associated Press reports that the unusual law, which permits the abandonment of any minor under age 19, may not have been exactly what lawmakers intended. Nebraska is the last state in the nation to enact a safe-haven law, and instead of just offering protection to newborns, the lawmakers decided to protect all minors. But will this cause parents of misbehaving teenagers to pack it in and just give up their kids? "Whether the kid is disabled or unruly or just being a hormonal teenager, the state is saying: 'Hey, we have a really easy option for you,'" Adam Pertman, executive director of a New York adoption institute and a frequent critic of safe-haven laws, told AP.
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Nebraska State Sen. Tom White, who helped broaden the law to include all minors, told AP, "All children deserve our protection. If we save one child from being abused, it's well, well worth it." He said the law was aimed at protecting preschoolers, and says his definition of a "minor" is anyone under age 14. Legally, however, Nebraska defines a minor as anyone under age 19. The law took effect on July 18, and so far no child of any age has been given up.
Still, experts are alarmed about Nebraska's law since it doesn't focus exclusively on parents and newborns. Casting such a wide net "circumvents every rational practice in child welfare that I'm aware of," Pertman told AP. "That's as nicely as I can put it." In addition, the law is ambiguous because of its brevity, and Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, to AP that he thinks this will trigger litigation over its meaning.
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