Does Safe Haven Law Help or Hurt?
In late September, Nebraskan Gary Staton decided he’d had enough. Rather than ask relatives for help, he drove his nine underaged children to a hospital and left them there. Staton could do this without legal repercussions because Nebraska has a law allowing parents of minor children to abandon those children in safe places such as a hospital or fire station with no questions asked. Staton’s life began to fall apart when his wife died from a brain aneurysm soon after giving birth to the couple’s 10th child. According to MSNBC and other news outlets, he was unemployed and struggled with bills. His eldest daughter, 18-year-old Amoria Micek told WOWT-TV in Omaha that “he felt like he couldn’t provide for them and rather than having the kids homeless or without utilities, he decided he would take up on the safe haven act.” Amoria, who was not abandoned, said she speaks with her father daily. The Staton children joined six teenagers who were also abandoned in Nebraska last month under the s
