There are several important stories about abandoned babies this week that remind us of the importance of continually spreading the word about the safe haven laws. The most dramatic, of course, is the arrest of an Orosi woman for several charges, including abandoning and murdering her baby, this week. She is pleading innocent.
The New Orleans Times Picayune is carrying a story of one weeping mother who learned of the law on the internet and turned her baby in to EMT's the day it was born. And in the Boston Herald, they are also finding that most people don't even know about the law, which excuses a mother from charges if she takes her newborn to a safe place like a fire station or a hospital.
One of the stories says that teenagers are getting involved in spreading the word about the safe haven laws by designing and distributing flyers. That's an excellent idea for a community service project, which most Valley high school seniors will soon be assigned in their government classes, to get the word out among young people.
The Bee reported this spring California is one of 47 states with safe haven laws that permit a mother to leave a newborn at a hospital or fire station without fear of prosecution. Since the state Safely Surrendered Baby law was enacted in 2001, 182 infants were surrendered at such havens, while another 146 infants were found alive after being abandoned elsewhere.
With so many families desperate to adopt babies, an abandoned child is a completely unnecessary tragedy doubled.
Wow! I have a law degree, and I had never heard of this law until now.
Thank you for posting this! This kind of writing is the Bee at its best.
Well done!
~C
We just returned from Hawaii, which became the 48th state to pass a Baby Safe Haven law.
In Massachusetts there is actually a very high awareness of our Baby Safe Haven law among young people, by a survey contracted by Department of Social Services.
We have had college students test a pilot program where DJs sign a contract to mention our Baby Safe Haven hotline and web site weekly, in return they will break stories ahead of all other media. You can watch this on our MySpace video page at: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=8376648
Because of these program we have had 6 babies safely surrendered in Massachusetts in just under three years. In the 4.5 years it took our legislature to pass our law we had 13 babies abandoned, 6 died, 4 came very close to death, 3 were similar to safe haven surrenderings due to neighboring states having a Baby Safe Haven law.
We consider our program to be the best in the nation, and the help of young people is crucial to this success.