Free Republic

EDGERTON, Wis. - Last week, Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill that would expand the Safe Haven Law, allowing parents to anonymously and safely surrender their newborns to hospitals, fire stations, police stations. The update came months after southern Wisconsin was shaken by the news of an abandoned newborn child found dead in a cornfield just outside of Whitewater. "They (residents) felt like this baby's life really mattered and they wanted to do something to make sure that if somebody else found themselves in this situation that they had an option," Rep. Ellen Schutt (R-Clinton) said. Now that the bill...

The Nebraska man who abandoned his nine children under the state's Safe Haven law last year is expecting to become the father of twins, FOXNews.com has learned. > Kathie Osterman, a spokeswoman for Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services, said the Staton family had received more than $995,000 in government aid as of last fall, including an estimated $600,000 in food stamps and more than $100,000 in Medicaid. >

Prosecutors in the home county of a Michigan woman who abandoned her 13-year-old son at a Nebraska hospital this week said Thursday they are seeking temporary custody of all the woman's children. Prosecutor Deborah Carley said a hearing would be held Thursday afternoon in Oakland County juvenile court on her petition for temporary custody of the five children of Terri and Terrance Martin of Southfield. Terri Martin made a roughly 12-hour drive to leave the 13-year-old at an Omaha hospital under Nebraska's unique safe haven law. All states have laws designed to allow desperate new mothers to leave their newborns...

OMAHA, Neb. - Nebraska's new "safe-haven" law allowing parents to abandon unwanted children at hospitals with no questions asked is unique in a significant way: It goes beyond babies and potentially permits the abandonment of anyone under 19. While lawmakers may not have intended it, the month-old law raises the possibility that frustrated parents could drop off misbehaving teens or even severely disabled older children with impunity. "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,'" said Adam Pertman, executive director of a...

A 14-year-old Bridgeton teenager was charged Wednesday with murder for allegedly drowning her newborn child in a public toilet last weekend. According to Cumberland County Prosecutor Ron Casella, the teenager, identified in a complaint by the initials "I.S.," was charged with purposely causing the death of her newborn baby boy during a Cinco de Mayo celebration Sunday at the Cumberland County Fairgrounds, in Millville. "She was served with a complaint alleging murder. Specifically, she gave birth to the baby in a public toilet, then removed him from the working toilet bowl and placed him in the tank," Casella said Wednesday....

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK -- A baby girl was pronounced dead after she was found in a garbage bag on a back porch early Saturday, police said. A 25-year-old woman was being questioned about the infant, police said. The woman was taken to a hospital with a medical problem around 9 p.m. Friday, and a doctor called authorities to say she might have given birth, according to police. They were directed to a Brooklyn home, where they found the infant unconscious around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The baby was pronounced dead at a local hospital, police said. Medical examiners were working to...