Click here to visit the new home of ParentDish!

Hot on HuffPost Parents:

 

Nebraska Dad Who Abandoned Nine Children is Expecting Twins

by John Gill (Subscribe to John Gill's posts)
Jul 1st 2009 2:00PM

568Comments

Filed under: In The News, Single Parenting


Gary Staton dropped off his 9 children last September under Nebraska's Safe Haven law. He still feels it was the right decision. Photo: Jeff Beiermann, The World-Herald

Safe Haven laws have been passed in all 50 states since 1999, as a way "for mothers in crisis to relinquish their babies to designated locations and keep them protected and provided with medical care until a permanent home is found."

37-year-old Gary Staton abandoned his nine children in September 2008, relinquishing them to the custody of his home state of Nebraska -- protected as a parent by the state's Safe Haven law. Now Staton, is expecting twins with his new girlfriend, Gail.

Staton abruptly became a single parent to his nine kids when his wife, RebelJane, died of a brain aneurysm in February 2007, not long after the last child's birth. The children, who ranged in age from 1 to 17 years of age, were dropped off at a hospital in Omaha when Staton determined that he could no longer care for them. The law has since been amended to only include children up to 30 days old.

Staton's two oldest children now live in Omaha, where they are finishing high school. The remaining seven kids live with RebelJane's aunt, who is in the process of adopting them.

How do Staton's kids feel about the news that he's going to be a daddy again? Joanne Manzer, wife of RebelJane's father, says Staton's abandoned kids (currently living with their aunt) do not hold a grudge. "He goes up there for visits -- they still have a connection," Manzer tells FOXNews.com. "They kind of understood what he did, he was stressed with everything else."

But Manzer also thinks the story might have had a different ending. "He did what he did, but we wish he had done it a different way," she said. "If he had come to anyone in the family, we would've figured something out." And how does she feel about the new babies? "It's his life. He can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't hurt the kids anymore."


Before the Safe Haven law was revised, 36 children were left at hospitals. All but six were over the age of ten. Some came from as far away as California and Washington. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman says that the revised law does two important things: "First, it puts the focus back on the original intent of these laws, which is saving newborn babies and exempting a parent from prosecution for child abandonment. It should also prevent those outside the state from bringing their children to Nebraska in an attempt to secure services."

And those services don't come cheap; as of last fall, the Staton kids had received approximately $995,000 in government aid. That number includes $600,000 in food stamps and more than $100,000 in Medicaid.

It's hard to say that his abandonment of his kids wasn't for the best -- nine children is a lot to raise on your own. But there also seem to have been other options for Gary Staton's and his kids, options that might not have cost the state of Nebraska quite so much money. We hope he's ready for this next shot at parenting.

Amazing Parent-Child Reunions

    British mum reunited with son
    When Audrey Gilder put up her baby up for adoption when she was just 18. She found him 62 years later; he lived less than 20 miles away.

    Read More

    Elizabeth Smart
    When Elizabeth Smart disappeared from her Utah home in 2002, her family was devastated -- but they never gave up hope. Smart, who had been abducted by drifter Brian David Mitchell, was held for nine months before being returned to her family. Most amazing, though, is that Smart seems to have emerged from the experience unscathed, recently telling People magazine, "I'm not sorry this happend to me anymore, because it made me grow up."

    Read More

    Utah Woman Reunites with Son After 32 Years
    Terri Fuller of Utah reconnected with the son she gave up 32 years ago, Rustin Hawve, thanks to a typo and an Internet search.

    Courtesy KSL

    Kidnapped boys reunited with parents
    In 2002, then-eleven-year-old Shawn Hornbeck was abducted by a man named Michael Devlin. Four years later, Devlin abducted a 13-year-old, Ben Owenby; the ensuing manhunt lead police to Devlin's apartment. Both boys were rescued and reunited with their families.

    Read More

    Ingrid Betancourt reunited with children after six years in captivity
    French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt was held captive by Columbian rebels for six years; she was reunited with her children, who were 13 and 16 at the time of her capture, after a daring military raid and rescue.

    Read More

    2 month old quake survivor reunited with parents
    After surviving the earthquake that devastated parts of China, two-month-old Anqui was separated from her parents during an airlift. But the baby and her worried mom and dad were all reunited within days, and all have made a full recovery.

    Read More

    DNA test reunites tsunami baby with parents
    After a tsunami devastated his home in Sri Lanka in December of 2005, "Baby 81" was claimed by dozens of families desperate to find their lost children. Eventually, the tot was reunited with his parents after a DNA test proved conclusively whose baby he was.

    Read More

    Separated Chinese twins find each other in America
    A pair of fraternal twin sisters abandoned a week apart in China and adopted by different families in America were reuinted when their mothers met on an adoption message board. The girls, both named Mia, live 1400 miles apart in the US, but see each other as regularly as possible.

    Read More

    Kidnapped boy returned to mom after 11 years
    In 1996, Walter Mitchell abducted the 9-month-old son of his live-in girlfriend in Phoenix, Arizona. In December of 2007, the FBI found Mitchell at his parent's home in Peoria, AZ with the child. The then-twelve-year-old boy was reunited with his mother shortly after.

    Read More

    Puppies save boy lost in forest
    Three-year-old Jaylynn Thorpe may not have known how to keep himself warm when he was lost in the forest, but he had a couple of buddies with him with some pretty good instincts. Two puppies who wandered away with Jaylynn slept up against the boy all night while searchers were looking. "Momma, I got cold," Jaylynn told his grandmother. "I slept in the woods last night. The puppies kept me warm."

    Read More

Tags: abandoned-children, Nebraska, pd-poll, Safe-Haven

Your<span>Voice</span>

Ask Us Anything About Parenting

Get Answers

Recently Asked

More Related Questions

ReaderComments (Page 5 of 29)

Add Your Comments

Previous 20 Comments 34567 Next 20 Comments

FollowUs

Flickr RSS

TheTalkies

AskAdviceMama

How can I get my teenage son to open up?
AdviceMama Says:
Start by teaching him that it is safe to do so.
Read more

More Recent Questions: