When the government gets involved in situations, we often see that unintended and unanticipated consequences arise. A perfect example recently occurred when the Nebraska state legislature passed a "safe haven" law designed to protect mothers who drop off newborns that they are unable to care for at Nebraska hospitals. Read the article and leave your comments. Can you think of any other examples of the law of unintended consequences when the government tries to fix something but messes it up even more?
72 comments:
It seems that the Nebraska safe haven law was badly written, if a law made to protect newborns can be used for an adolescent. The misuse of a law is a clear example of how while lawmakers may create a law for a purpose, citizens will use its wording for their own uses. On the other hand, people using the law for other purposes than its intent may ensure that our country's laws increase in efficiency and effectiveness. Having seen how the safe haven law was used, lawmakers should place a higher priority not only how to fix that specific law, but also on how their future laws could be used to defy their intentions.
A recent example is when the government proposed the $700 billon bailout - and rejected it when it first came to a vote in the House. That only decreased voter confidence in the stock market and exacerbated the financial problem.
First of all, nobody really cares about nebraska. They husk corn for fun. It makes perfect sense that it has now turned into the cool place to abandon your child.
On a more serious note, the law of unintended concequence has reared its ugly head in other moments in history. An example can be the second amendment, which states plainly that for a well regulated milita to protect the security of our nation, we shall have the right to bear arms. People misinterperet this amendment and disregard the first part of that statement. They think that it just means that we can have guns just for fun, which actually destroys the security of our nation by letting any joe-blow run around with a gun.
What terrible parenting. When most parents attempt to teach a lesson the ground their children or take away their car or cellphone, not making the child think his/her parents are abandoning him/her.
This law was obviously not well thought out and discussed properly, or there would be some age limit. Politicians must look at every proposed law from every angle, and try to stop any exploitation or loophole before it begins.
I jus think the parents took this situation to the extreme. I dnt think they felt it would end up in the paper or anything. I do think they coud have handled this situation a little better than they did.
Also this law wasn't very clear at all. It should have stated the situations in which you can take this into effect. The governtment and this state dhould have examined a little closer.
Ugh. talk about irresponsible parenting. Those grandparents shouldn't have adopted her then if they were going to resort to such tactics. and lol @ the "Officials have encouraged parents to seek other resources before resorting to abandonment." Are they saying that its ok to abandon a kid if nothing else works?
Many laws created have loop holes in them. the Nebraska safe haven law is one example. Because of the unrestricted age to the law, people like the grandparents in the article abuse and misuse such law.
and honestly?"Officials have encouraged parents to seek other resources before resorting to abandonment." what is this? so the officials really think that abandonment is really a way to punish a child? very very mature.
To teach your child a lesson is simply disciplining them with respect. Leaving your child and "teaching a lesson" is surely not appropriate for your own children. Obviously, this law was not thought out enough and properly to actually be a legitimate law. Such irresponsible parenting leads to embarassment in my opinion.
-Tracy Kwong
safe haven laws have good intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. they were put in place so that parents wouldn't abandon their children, leaving them to die, but it's also given some parents an "out" that they wouldn't have had otherwise. Now, a mom who would have not killed her baby and rather have just dealt with it has a punishment-free way of dumping off her child. the state basically is saying "dump your kids here and don't get punished." it's good on paper, but a horrible idea in practice.
The haven law doesnt seem to be effectful and the kid should not be given back to the grand parents because if today the parents could dump the kids tomorrow it is more likely to happen again. This was the only right decision they have so far made. Because that kid could be subject to abuse or neglectance by the grandparents who wanted those kids.
The law needs to be re-examined if something this terrible can be allowed to happen. New born babies would not know if they were "abandoned" but a 14 year old would for sure be affected by it. The government should know by now to have examined all the possibilities a law could bring about.
pretty much the majority of laws written always undergo revisions. This particular "safe haven" law is one that is prone to misuse and misinterpretation. Laws, like rough drafts, and even final essays are never perfect...theres a flaw, visible in everyone's own take on the meaning of the purpose. In this case, the grandparents straight up took advantage of this law as a justifiable means to abandon their grandchild...and thus deserved more poop(fed level conflict), than they could hold in their adult diapers.
Well... I have to say that the parenting tactics that these people have gone too is just a wow. But i am not surprised that the safe haven law got taken advantage of because that is just the american way it seems. People are always pushing laws and guidelines to their limits, and find many ways to get around them and do what they want. Same case here with abandoning the kid even though they didn't use the law for its actual intent. The law definitly needs to be and I bet will be revised. Until then, it is just another loop hole in a state law.
I'm not sure how her grandparents came to be her legal guardians, but whoever made that decision was obviously not thinking clearly.
Children are people. They cannot be discarded, given away, and then taken back whenever you please. To think so simply proves how delusional these people are.
I'm sure this law was made with great intentions, to help those who need it and have no other choice. But I agree with those above me: the law needs to be rethought and reworded, because situations like this are simply unacceptable.
WOW thats some bad parenting to just dump ur kid off at the hospital. Even though they abused the new law, the grandparents shouldnt go to measures like that to simply "teach her a lesson". The law was obviously written poorly because they found a flaw in the text. Anyways, there shouldnt even be a law stating that you can drop ur child off if u dont want it anymore.
Like Felice said, the safe haven law does have good intentions. But it should definitely be reworded to where it is more specific as to when it should be used.
While I definitely think it is horrible for anyone to abandon a child as a form of punishment, leaving a child at a 'safe haven' would not always be the worst thing for a child because sometimes the care a parent has the ability to provide just isn't sufficient. And I personally believe that when officials encourage "parents to seek other resources before resorting to abandonment," they are referring to the people who can't provide adequate support for their child, not people looking for a way out because they just don't want the responsibility of a child anymore. But very much like the safe haven law, officials should be more specific as to who they are referring to so people don't jump to conclusions and assume that they are saying abandonment is okay.
Wow...that's insane. How could the grandparents just leave their kid at the hospital. The law obviously needs to be altered to repair this flaw, because this is certainly not okay. If they truly did not want the kid anymore, there are other reasonable options, such as adoption or planned parenthood. HOWEVER, it is a comfort to know that the child was put in a "safe haven" as opposed to being dumped in the streets.
Does it really surprise anyone that people in NEBRASKA are abandoning their children? I mean really, people in that state probably don't know what to do with a new born baby because they don't know anything but corn. The law in Nebraska needs to rethought and re-examined. The different possibilites of this law are emense, and the government needs to understand that all children, reguardless of age, are affected by abandonment.
Now this is an example of pure lack of thought. The writers of the Safe haven law failed to imagine all the possible reasons of abandoning a child and under what circumstances one would be compelled to do so.
Despite the good intentions of the law makers, they failed to realise that not all humans have good morals. On the contrary, the opposite could be argued. As for the law makers, they should address the issue at once *and* analyze similar laws to make sure that they do not contain such flaws.
This is really bad parenting. No matter how badly your child behaves they should never be abandoned. There are other ways to discipline children, other than just dumping them elsewhere to teach them a lesson. Moreover that law needs to be rewritten in a way that is more specific, or else other people will take it the wrong way.
This is really bad parenting. No matter how badly your child behaves they should never be abandoned. There are other ways to discipline children, other than just dumping them elsewhere to teach them a lesson. Moreover that law needs to be rewritten in a way that is more specific, or else other people will take it the wrong way.
Interesting parent tactics. If parents could still punish their children with a paddle without fear of legal problems from child abuse i think there would be no reason for the Save Haven Law. This law shows irresponsibility on the parents side for letting their kid grow up to be a trouble maker, then provides and excuse to get rid of the child. They take no responsibility for there actions. Disappointing.
I think that is totally redonkulous. Yes i said redonkulous. You can't just drop your kid off and "teach them a lesso." Its like me going to the airport with my family and "accidently" get on a different plane just to teach my parents a lesson. The entire law is just a way to catch those uncaring unwilling parents so that their child wont be dropped off and shipped to an orphanage. I think if parents would just act their age and take their child then this law wouldn't be in existence. Thats my Thought. Peace Love and Gap!
I think that the safe haven laws are intended to be good, but all in all they pretty much stink! It seems like they are encouraging abandonment as an alternative rather than adoption, where the biological parents will know something good will come to their child.Abandonment should not be an option.
This law was obviously not written well, but why on earth would anyone abandon their child to "teach them a lesson." I think most of this is just the fault of dumb parenting, now they have to deal with the fact that they could possibly not get the 14 year old girl back. This law needs to be revised and thought out with more restrictions since it is now being used as a tool for something else.
HM..wow...honestly when I read this article I could not help but laugh. I could not believe that people would take discipline that far. It was also funny how the guardians of that child abandoned her, and then later "changed their minds" and said they wanted her back. The fact that Nebraska even has a law that pretty much states "HEY, if you don't want your kid just leave them here" is ridiculous. I think the people of Nebraska definitely need to rethink that law again.
The law had good intentions but clearly the "safe haven" law was far too broad and requires amendments. Like others have said, a teenager will be affected by this experience. Those grandparents used a ridiculous tactic. It was even more ridiculous that the grandparents crossed the state line to teach her a lesson.
It seems Nebraska is at it again to become the worst state in America. Yet many laws are poorly written, creating loop holes which allows citizens to do whatever they want with it. The bailout is a recent law that failied miserably in what it was intended for. It was suppose to save the economy, but on that day we saw one of the worst stock market drops in history.
This is one of the DUMBEST laws I have ever heard in my life. Bailing on your kid when they are a teen is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. Maybe if the parent wasn't lazy and actually parented the kid and taught them morals and values they wouldn't be a problem. The options of extended family, family friends, and boarding or military school also exist.
That is crazy. What kind of parents would want to abandon their kids in the first place? Even if there is an argument or falling out between the children and the parents simply abandoning the kid is unacceptable. This law definatly has it's flaws. And I am pretty sure when people do not want their children, they go through this little thing called "adoption". So what exactly was the lesson they were trying to teach this kid?
I think the idea of having a law that makes it okay for people to abandon their children is crazy, Nebraska is just asking for failure. People need to fix problems and not put it on other hands. The only example I can think of is double jepordy. In this law you can't charge someone for the same crime twice. If you have ever seen the movie, a man fakes his death and his wife gets charged for it. After the wife went through everything she realized what her husband did and killed him because she could not be charged again. Although this is ment to be a humorus movie, it is stil true. Laws should only be made to perfection.
The last comment about double jepordy was made by lindsey bub
I don’t see why would people want to abandon their children in the first place. I think they should change the Nebraska's safe-haven law however. That law shouldn’t exist in the first place, if the parents decided to abandon their children, they must face charges. How do teenagers survive without their parents, if they are unable to work.
America's understanding of dealing with their children's issues has left the walls of their home and instead resorting to governmental intervention. The law shouldn't be taken so lightly, especially when regrading a child's well being or safety. While their motives may have been justifiable, the Nebraska government cannot be accountable for such horrible tactics in fulfilling their motives. Nebraska must begin closing these loopholes and thinking carefully about the child's stability.
-Ashley Abraham
This law seems pretty messed up and needs to be rewritten. The fact that a fourteen year old girl can be abandoned because her grandparents wanted to "teach her a lesson" is pretty sick. This should only be used for the safety of a child or if the parents can not provide proper care for the kid, otherwise keep your children, and if you don't like your children, then don't have them in the first place.
If you want to abandon your kids you should have any. Grandparents shouldn't abandon their kids thats just wrong
Yes, laws like these do have unintended consequences. Created, i am sure, for noble reasons, the law allows parents to be negligent and not accept their responsibilities. Lawmakers need to think to the future. The law essentially says that if you don't want your responsibility its ok your children aren't people that you chose to bring into the world but inconveniences you can dispose of at any time.
the fact of the matter is that this example of the selfishness of an American citizen. This law was meant to help those children and parents in need, yet this couple exploits it in order to "teach a lesson" for their own benefits. The same occurs when situations like the coffee lawsuit against mcdonalds happen. They sprout from the greediness of our citizens determined to exploit all facets of the law
It's really weird that the teenager's grandparents abandoned her just to teach her a lesson. That makes no sense to drive to a different state to drop your kid off and leave. The safe haven law was intended for mothers who could not take care of their baby. There should be some sort of restrictions like being unable to support youself that enables abandoning your child to be legal.
no matter how much parents and guardians want to teach their children a lesson, abandonment is not the way to do so. The girl's emotional psyche must be extremely damaged. This law was made to protect newborns. By a certain time in the child's life, the guardian should have to take full responsibility for the child, and abandonment should not be an option.
This Nebraska safe haven law is horrible. Honestly abandonment of your child? What have people come to..."Oh he got a C he's out of the house" I think this is ridiculous and is no way of treating any situation..
I think this was pretty messed up. I don't care what the kid does, you don't pretend to abandon them somewhere. Think of all of the issues that poor girl is going to have now. I mean it is one thing to drop off a newborn because you can't take care of them, and a complete other to leave a teenager who understands the implications behind it just to "tech her a lesson".
First of all, there are definitely better ways to teach a child a lesson than taking and leaving them in another state..
It seems often that the Government tries to fix things, only to mess them up even more.
There is a loophole to everything, because no matter what, it seems that nothing can be specific enough for everyone, as has been proven. They should attempt to reword the law, but it won't make a huge difference, someone, somewhere, will figure try to same kind of things
The Safe Haven law exists in almost every state if you really think about it...its completely legal to leave a newborn at any hospital or firestation. However, in Nebraskas case, they let it get completely out of control. A law which was designed to protect newborns from potentially harmful living enviroments is now being used to teach lessons to adolescents. It's abusing the law. To fix problems like this in the future, law makers should have rules and restrictions on laws so that citizens don't try to take advantage of the law.
The safe haven law is not written well at all. I think that its good for those idiotic parents in the world who abandon their children instead of putting him/her in foster care. But it should not be taken advantage of. It should not be used to teach someones child a lesson, that's just wrong!!
What a crap law. Really? The government is basically saying that child abandonment is ok, even encouraged, because the parent doesn't face any consequences. That is not helping the situation. There are so many other options open to people who cannot take care of their children. Adoption agencies, foster care. There are so many people out there who would love to adopt the child that is being abandoned. By making this law the government is stepping in where it doesn't belong and making the situation worse.
I think this is just absurd! Her guardians are definitely "disciplining" her the wrong way! Such a cruel method...
This program, I believe, had good intentions; it was just being taken for granted. No one wants to see children left on the streets. It's just that this law needs to be redefined, so that it wouldn't be misinterpreted.
What kind of dumb law is that? All though abuse or neglect is accounted for...abandoning a child, in my opinion, is unethical. The law should be revoked and the GRANDPARENTS should be taught the lesson. We are living in a modern age, that seems a little harsh of a discipline if u ask me.
this law is stupid. A parent shouldn't abandon a child in the first place. These days if you are unable to keep a child, you can give it to a family who is willing to take care of the child. Either way you shouldn't abandon a child and those grandparents should have been punished for abandoning the child in the first place.
this law is stupid. A parent shouldn't abandon a child in the first place. These days if you are unable to keep a child, you can give it to a family who is willing to take care of the child. Either way you shouldn't abandon a child and those grandparents should have been punished for abandoning the child in the first place.
The main purpose of the law is to provide care for children who are in danger of being harmed. The law was made to protect the kids' safety. In this case where a child was left at a hospital to "learn a lesson", the parents are at fault for irresponsible parenting by wrongly abusing the intentions of the law. Many laws can be misinterpreted and twisted to provide a different meaning and this would be one of them. This law would certainly need revision to prohibit these unintended consequences.
The bottom line is, to just abandon a child for the purposes of discipline is just wrong. Lawmakers obviously have to be aware of all possible loopholes when passing laws in order to to avoid the abuse of their original purpose
Dude i heard about this law not too long ago. There was also a guy that abadoned his 9 kids,they ranged from ages 1-17. apparently his wife had died and he couldnt handle the responsibilities all his own, so he drove his children to the hospital and left them there. It's people like this that just grind my gears. And it just goes to show that you shouldnt be aloud to have any children.
an example of law of unintended consequences is The American Disabilities Act. This law made it more costly to hire people with disabilities, and their employments were reduced.
This law needs to be revised because dicipline problems with a child can be fixed in many different ways. Dropping them off somewhere is no way of teaching a kid dicipline. This is very poor parenting.
That's such a ridculous law first of all. Who wants to be left at a hospital when your parents don't want you. Who would come up with such a law anyway? Shouldn't hospitals be focused on the patients that need them and not charity cases that walk randomly through the door. No offense to the kids, but they make special centers for that kind of stuff.
These absuses are indicative of a larger problem in our society, I think our society as a hole has moved toward the avoidance of taking responsiblity for the our own burdens.
Discipline is a very important thing to do for a child. If a parent does not discipline their child, they child will think its okay to do it agian. The Nebraska Safe Haven Law was not thought out well. Parents need to discipline their children in order for their children to be respectful and successful adults. Without discipline, our world today would be chaos.
Bah! This is so ridiculous to me. I can even formulate a coherent comment. I will, however, say that I have to agree with most of my peers. This is a prime example of horrible parenting and the willingness to misuse the law for your own personal "gain", for lack of a better word.
I would understand if a parent refered to dropping their kid at the hospital as a joke, but the caretakers of the child were really irresponsible and also misused a law meant to protect abandoned newborns. Unfortunately, people always misuse a law or find a loophole. I think the laws need to be carefully evaluated before being passed so that situations like these can be avoided.
its a human nature to take advantage of or misuse something at very needy moment. one example is the nebraska safe haven law,the fact about age limit, provokes people like older one in the articel to misuse it. these law makers have to understand one thing, there are loop holes in almost all of the laws, if one is not obvious, within sometime, people will create one in order to meet thier needs. so when touching something very important like that of birth and kids, they have to be a little bit more careful.
I can see that parenting is hard- but taking your own child,sometimes even as old as 16, to a hospital somewhat intending to not take care of them anymore is outrageous to me. i saw a TV interview of some parents who acted on this law and it terribly hurt the children. it was really quite sad to see these parents just give up on them.
i cannot think of any other laws that are made but backfire.
Nebraska never was the sharpest tool in the shed anyways, their law of safe haven is a good example of this. Aside from their specific ignorance to minor detail, our country has other facits of intelligence that are used pretty unintelligently. A good example of this is the war on drugs. Its like yea controled substances should be well... controled, but too much money goes into task forces that waste the tax payers money and the only drugs being retreived are from high school students or other decent people whos lives are being ruined over such a small thing. The best solution, in all honesty, is to just decriminlize it like canada.
I can understand Nebraska's thinking on this one, but I don't think they thought it all the way throught. If there weren't already enough orphans in the world, now we have to worry about people in Nebraska shacking up and instead of taking responsibility for their actions, being able to literally drop their child off and go on with their lives. Come on Nebraska, get a clue.
This law needs to be changed, now. That's kind of ridiculous that parents are allowed to drop any child under the age of nineteen at a hospital without any consequences. It is a bit more understandable for people to be able to leave infants, but teenagers? This only encourages parents to cop out on raising their children when it becomes, "too difficult." It's ridiculous. It fosters the idea of irresponsibility in people.
Wow...I can't believe that a place like nebraska would need this type of law, are parents that irresponsible over there. I personally don't think that this law is a good idea , if the parents don't want their child then they should give it for adoption, why? because i wouldn't want to be raise by parents that didn't want me in the first place. I don't know what politicians are thinking they have many other important things to do then making pointless laws.
Children are not toys that can be put in the corner when you are done playing with them, or in this case parenting them. How could the parents do that to the children?
I think that all laws should be thought over very carefully. Once something has been made a law, it does not show that it will do anu good if you have to go back and actually revise it? Who wants there congressman to make the wrong decision and then tell them it was a mistake and take it back? I would't trust them. Hmph.
I think in theory the the law is good. Unfortunately people tend to take advantage of things like this.The law was poorly written, true, but how janky are those Grandparents.
Don't they have the Baby Moses act in Texas?You can drop off a child at any hospital or fire station with no consequences.People just haven't used it as much I guess.I think its only for little kids though.Yup, the gov. should think about how irresponsible some of its citizens are before they go off passing these laws.
for thousands of years their has been written law and for thousands of years people have been trying to get around it with any loopolls they can find especially lawers. it should be no surprise people are tsking advantage of it. and who would really drop of their child at a hospital in the first place they are the same kind of people who try to get around the law
What terrible parenting. When most parents attempt to teach a lesson the ground their children or take away their car or cellphone, not making the child think his/her parents are abandoning him/her.
This law was obviously not well thought out and there should be some age limit. Politicians must realize there has been a mistake and instead of defending it, or ignoring it, they should make it their first priority to fix the law.
I think the idea of having a law that makes it okay for people to abandon their children is crazy, Nebraska is just asking for failure. People need to fix problems and not put it on other hands. The only example I can think of is double jepordy. In this law you can't charge someone for the same crime twice. If you have ever seen the movie, a man fakes his death and his wife gets charged for it. After the wife went through everything she realized what her husband did and killed him because she could not be charged again. Although this is ment to be a humorus movie, it is stil true. Laws should only be made to perfection.
Ugh. talk about irresponsible parenting. Those grandparents shouldn't have adopted her then if they were going to resort to such tactics. and haha at the "Officials have encouraged parents to seek other resources before resorting to abandonment." Are they saying that its ok to abandon a kid if nothing else works?
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