Michigan Takes Custody Of 4 Children

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Associated Press
Friday, October 17, 2008

PONTIAC, Mich., Oct. 16 -- A Michigan couple were barred from seeing or contacting their children after authorities said the mother abandoned their adopted but unwanted 13-year-old son in Nebraska under the state's "safe haven" law.

A Michigan court official issued the order Thursday against Terri and Terrance Martin and placed their children under temporary state custody. Prosecutors said the children were victims of abuse and neglect.

Oakland County Juvenile Court Referee Karla Mallett also ordered the two boys, ages 10 and 5, and a 3-year-old daughter returned to their home under the care of a 19-year-old cousin.

Terri Martin drove about 12 hours to leave the teenager on Monday at an Omaha hospital under Nebraska's unique law.

All states have laws designed to allow desperate new mothers to leave their newborns in safe hands, but Nebraska's allows parents to abandon older children and even teenagers at hospitals. The boy was the 18th child and the second from out of state abandoned in Nebraska since the law took effect in July.

Terrance Martin said Thursday that after his wife left with the teenager, he took the three remaining children to a motel. A fifth youngster, a 16-year-old boy, is a foster child who was already removed from the home by the Michigan Department of Human Services.