LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has signed a bill that adds a 30-day age limit to a safe-haven law led to the abandonment of nearly three dozen children, including some teenagers as old as 17. The law goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Heineman signed the bill on Friday afternoon without fanfare and did not immediately issue a statement on the law.

The Legislature, meeting in special session, gave its final approval earlier Friday.

Nebraska has been the only safe-haven law in the country without an age limit. Designed to prevent newborns from being dumped in trash bins or worse, the law instead led to the drop-off of 35 children since September, none of them infants.

They have mostly been preteens and teenagers as old as 17.

On the Net:
Gov. Dave Heineman: http://www.governor.nebraska.gov/

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.