Mom Abandons Her 8-Year-Old Son at a Hospital for Being "Rude"
One Utah mom is facing charges after she left her 8-year-old son with special needs at Jordan Valley Medical Center, claiming she was overwhelmed by his calling her foul names and pulling his pants down in public.
Sherrer, 36, who has three other kids (also with special needs), said she was making use of Utah's Safe Haven law, according to reports from KLS Under the law, parents can drop off a baby up to three days old anonymously at a hospital with no questions asked or consequences.
"I thought that it was okay that we could drop them off and it was a Safe Haven place," Sherrer said, according to KSL News. "I don't think I'm necessarily a bad mother. I got more like overwhelmed. I wasn't sure about the Safe Haven laws or what it meant… I really did not know any other way to go about it."
According to the police documents, her son walked up to the reception of the hospital building with a note from his mother which read, "This kid is rude and ungovernable! I do not want him in my house at all!" Hospital authorities contacted police and the boy was then taken into protective custody.
"You don't get to arbitrarily drop children off at certain institutions," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. "You reach out to that organization, that organization helps process your child, there's an understanding. Everybody understands what everyone's role is. But you don't simply say, 'I've had enough and I'm going to drop off this child and no one knows who I am.'''
Sherrer was charged with child abandonment, a third-degree felony, and child abuse, a class A misdemeanor, and her son is still being cared for by social services.
