I watched a Dr. Phil on this issue last week.
One (white) woman interviewed had her first child at around 19. Then she had another…both from different fathers, unmarried woman. She said she was overwhelmed by motherhood, the financial stress of it all and wanted to go back to school.
So she hoped “someone” would take her kids for about 10 years and then she would want them back when she was “ready.” She expressed frustration over having no social life – that her life was now entirely about work and caring for the children. Dr. Phil told her that her life was no longer exclusively about her.
Another show participant was a single (white) mother of a 15 year-old “out of control” daughter. She took advantage of the law because she didn’t want her daughter to continue on her current path, as it would likely turn out very bad. So she wanted the State to intervene and straighten out her daughter before (presumably) she escalated to becoming a criminal.
There was also a young (white) man, maybe in his twenties, who had been left in a garbage can as a newborn and was hoping to locate his birth mother.
The worst was a (hispanic, I think from the accent) girl who was 15 or 16 and said she never knew she was pregnant until she was nearly full term and couldn’t find any help. She delivered the baby in the bathroom of her parent’s home and then upon delivery, since the baby didn’t “cry” “like they are supposed to…” she stabbed it with scissors. That story was even more convoluted and Dr. Phil regards teenage girls (around 15/16) pregnant girls as being too immature to make rational decisions –like that–to deal with a pregnancy alone. So in her case, the issue was –she was in shock upon delivering her baby alone and therefore caused her to stab the baby to death. Her mother found her in the bathroom and then they went to the hospital.
The last two stories involving infants are obviously the reason why safe haven was created. But after watching the show, the others are more about people not being willing or maybe able to take responsibility for their choices –which is the underlying chronic problem.
