Relationship between the law and society: Child abandonment law - Essay Example

The aims of the laws remain guided towards the betterment of individuals as well as protection of children. The laws appear to be excellent in sprit since they have managed to save the lives of 37 infants who might have otherwise been abandoned to die. The current state of the laws on Child Abandonment in Ohio stand with very little change from the time they were enacted with intended creation of a safe haven for surrendering a child within 72 hours of birth to the proper authorities without getting penalised for child abandonment.

Calls for such laws had been in the view of social scientists and public affairs professionals as early as 1975 since these laws were important to society due to the changes which had come about in terms of unwanted pregnancies and the lack of legal abortion options available to parents unwilling to keep a child (Herbenick, 1975). However, the enactment of the laws did take their time but once they had been created, they certainly helped the family in more ways than one. In the first instance, a mother who can not or is not willing to keep a child does not have to risk abandoning her child to nature or the elements hoping that someone will find the child before it dies of exposure.

Secondly, it helps society preserve an image of humanity for itself and most importantly it gives families without children a chance to adopt a child for themselves who might have otherwise lived a very bad life if at all. Of course there are issues with the laws which need to be addressed since there can always be improvements depending on the input received from adoption agencies and social work organisations. For example, there seem to be several limitations on the laws such as the age of the child must be less than 72 hours old which according to Hottinger (2005) may not be enough time for parents to make a decision.

Additionally, only a parent can