The boy was living with an aunt; when she tried calling a statewide human services hotline "she got no useful information," the newspaper said. Separately, officials with Nebraska's child welfare division told the aunt the state couldn't intervene unless the boy committed a crime.

-- A 15-year-old boy who would punch holes in the wall at home and throw things in school. His father is described in court records as "psychotic and a drug user who had been convicted of misdemeanor child abuse," the World-Herald reports.

The newspaper reports today that families sought help for these violent or out-of-control kids, unsuccessfully.

Several teenagers and pre-teens left by families at Nebraska hospitals over the past several weeks are mentally ill or have severe behavioral problems, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

-- A 13-year-old girl who'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, fetal alcohol syndrome, and severe behavioral problems. She was prone to fly into rages and and had been living at Boys Town until her great aunt removed her at the beginning of the summer, concerned that the girl was being medicated too heavily.

After the girl smeared her menstrual blood on the walls of her house, the "aunt called agencies for help but said she could not find a program," the World-Herald reports. When the girl tried to jump out of a moving car, her great aunt took her to a hospital and asked for help.

"I can't do nothing for her anymore. It's too dangerous," she told the Omaha newspaper.

-- A 15-year-old boy who'd been diagnosed with depression and using drugs. Over the summer, the boy had been found carrying marijuana and had run away from home before entering a diversion program. When police brought him back, he reportedly began to express suicidical intentions.

His uncle, the boy's guardian, took him to an Omaha hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, but the hospital refused to admit the teeanger when he said he wasn't suicidal.

"Fearing for his life, that's when I made the decision that I made," said the uncle, who then turned the teenager in under Nebraska's new "safe haven" law, according to the World-Herald.

-- An 11-year-old boy who'd threatened to kill his mother and siblings. The World-Herald reports that the mom arranged for the boy to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital but that he refused to take his medications.

"She has exhausted all of her options," according to a police report cited by the World-Herald.

Under Nebraska's new "safe haven" law -- the last in the nation -- seven teens have been dropped off at hospitals over the past several weeks by parents or guardians. The Nebraska law is the only in the U.S. that doesn't set an age limit on children who can be handed over to authorities, no questions asked.

In Nebraska, the debate now centers around the adequacy of services for families with troubled kids. A lack of resources prevents families from receiving needed help, advocates claim in another story published by the Omaha World-Herald today.

"There's not enough places to turn," said Eve Bleyhl, executive director of the Nebraska Family Support Network, quoted in the paper.

Nebraska human services officials dispute that allegation. According to the World-Herald, the director of the state's department of health and human services said a review of cases "had not turned up problems with the state's system for responding to families in crisis."

The case that's received the most attention involves a father who deposited 9 of his 10 children, ages 1 to 17, at an Omaha hospital. It's not clear from news reports if any of the children were seriously disturbed.

This is an issue that is resonating with people across the country. Many of you responded to my Friday post, and it appears many of you think the dad who relinquished responsibility for his nine kids did the right thing, especially if the alternative was abuse and neglect.

Unfortunately, we still don't know a lot about what happened in this particular case.

Did the father call family members and ask for their support? Did he call service agencies and admit that he needed help? Did the children have any advance warning? Or were they caught by surprise, faced with losing their home and their sole remaining parent after their mother died suddenly a year and a half before?

Nebraska lawmakers will now consider whether the state's new law needs to be changed to narrow its scope to babies and infants, the World-Herald reports.

I offended some readers by remarking Friday that the moral of this story is that "safe haven" laws need to be written carefully. I continue to think that's the case, especially when older children are involved. But clearly this story raises other complicated issues. In particular, are we doing enough to help families with severely disturbed kids, not only in Nebraska but in other states as well?