Description

• The term "child abandonment" refers to a parent relinquishing rights over his or her child with no intention to ever resume the parent-child relationship or asserting parental rights over the child again. Abandoned children are usually referred to as foundlings to differentiate them from orphans.
  
  

Unsupervised Children

• In many states, children under the age of 12 or 13 cannot be left in the home or a public place without adult supervision. Doing so results in child abandonment, punishable by the laws of that state. Many states also place limits on the number of hours a 14 or 15 year old may be unsupervised. For instance, in some states, a 14 year old can be home alone without supervision but not for more than 24 hours.
  
  

Constructive Abandonment

• In some states, if a parent fails to provide the basic physical and psychological needs to his or her child without justification, for six months or longer, the court can infer that the parent has abandoned the child. For example, if a parent fails to provide care or maintain visitation or contact with the child for six months or longer, the court can determine the parent has abandoned the child.
  
  

Baby Safe Havens

• All states have safe haven laws that allow parents to relinquish a newborn at a designated safe haven such as a hospital, police station or fire department without question, prosecution or penalty. The baby is then taken care of by the state and are usually put into foster care or up for adoption. The abandoning parent has no rights or obligations to the child.
  
  

Nebraska

• In 2008, Nebraska changed its law to allow parents to drop off children up to age 18 at a safe haven without penalty or prosecution. Shortly after the law was changed, 35 children and teenagers were lawfully abandoned by their parents in Nebraska and the state changed its law again to limit drop-offs to newborns, 30-days-old or younger.