Legal News

Gag Order Lifted on Nebraska Parents Who Used ?Safe Haven? Law

By Dionne Searcey

A little over a year ago, the WSJ chronicled the plight of two Nebraska parents, Sue and Avery Quakenbush, who had recently availed themselves of a new Nebraska “safe haven” law that allowed troubled mothers to put children, and even teenagers, in the hands of the state.

Shortly after the story ran, however, Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services — and the child’s guardian ad litem — obtained a gag order on the family, intended to ban them from speaking publicly about their child's confidential medical issues.

The news today: the gag order has been lifted. The Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday removed the order on the couple, saying it couldn't find enough evidence of imminent harm to the boy — who is now 18 — to justify restraining his parents' speech.

According to this story in the Lincoln Journal-Star, appellate judges were told Sue Quakenbush wanted to participate last year in a legislative hearing on the original safe haven law and the availability of mental health services for troubled youth. She also had been prevented from participating in other forums with the same goal, she said.

“The object of the gag order is clearly to restrain the parents’ constitutional right of free speech,” the court said. “The right of free speech is 'constitutional bedrock’ and a right by which other freedoms, such as assembly and free press, are given meaning and power.”

Sue Quackenbush had told the WSJ that she and her husband had dropped off their teen because abandoning him seemed to be the fastest way to get him badly needed access to mental health services. Today, the child remains in state custody. And the state’s safe haven law has been amended to apply only to newborns.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).