Omaha, Neb. ? A 16-year-old mother walked into a hospital in an attempt to use Nebraska’s unique safe-haven law – not to abandon her baby, but to get help for herself and her son.

The girl, who was escorted by an aunt last week to Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, told a social worker that she was kicked out of her mother’s home, according to court documents filed in Douglas County Juvenile Court. She also said that she had been emotionally abused and suffered physical harm.

Court records indicate that the teen’s mother would likely be charged with criminal child neglect, though Omaha police said Thursday that no charge had been filed. The teen and her 10-month-old son have been placed in foster care.

Nebraska’s safe-haven law, which took effect in July, is the only one in the country that lets anyone leave a child as old as 18 at a state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution for the abandonment.

At least 19 children, the youngest 22 months and many of them teens, have been abandoned under the law. Most of the state Legislature’s 49 senators have agreed to amend the law so it applies only to infants up to 3 days old; they will be back in regular session in January.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has not listed the teenage mother or her son among the state’s safe-haven cases. Spokeswoman Jeanne Atkinson said the case didn’t fall under the state’s safe-haven law because the wording requires a person to leave a child.