Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / September 2005

WASHINGTON

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Parents of newborns have options

Monday September 26, 2005
A rash of cases involving parents who abandoned their newborns prompted
Washington lawmakers to take action in 2002.

The Legislature passed the Newborn Safety Act, which allows new parents
to drop their baby off at any hospital or fire station within 72 hours
of birth without fear of prosecution or identification.

The law has been a success, saving at least six lives in three years,
according to two Seattle women who pushed for its passage.

Left in trash bins

Joan Dedman and Virginia Pfalzer, two retired nurses, head up Safe
Place For Newborns out of Bothell, a statewide organization that
disseminates information about the abandonment law and encourages new
parents to consider the safe havens of hospitals and fire stations over
garbage bins and doorsteps.

Sadly, that was the situation leading up to the 2002 legislative
session.

The newspaper headlines had focused on numerous babies abandoned across
the state -- 11 in King County alone. The newborns had been left in a
variety of locations -- at a convenience store, along a sidewalk, in a
trash bin and in a restaurant.

Texas had undergone a similar situation a few years earlier -- 13
abandoned babies in 10 months.

Lawmakers there responded with legislation to encourage mothers and
fathers to leave their newborns in the hands of people who could care
for them. Texas officials understood that postdelivery health care for
newborns is especially critical to infant survival and lifetime
well-being.

Protecting babies

Other states began to copy the Texas law. Washington was one.

Under Washington's law at the time, a person who deserted an infant
could be charged with abandonment of a dependent person, family
abandonment or family nonsupport. With each abandoned newborn, police
launched a criminal investigation followed by an attempt to track down
and charge the parents.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, wanted a better system -- one that
protected babies while not encouraging abandonment.

She sponsored Senate Bill 5236, which created the hospital and fire
station safe havens where parents could drop off their newborns without
fear of recrimination. Rep. Al O'Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, pushed the
bill through the House.

"I am convinced that this measure will save babies' lives," Kohl-Welles
said at the time. "It offers a vital escape valve for frightened and
unprepared parents -- typically young mothers who feel they have
nowhere else to turn. This is a reasonable alternative to an
unreasonable situation."

Her legislative colleagues agreed, and Gov. Gary Locke signed the bill
into law on April 3, 2002.

Transferral to Child Protective Services

Under the law, the person receiving the newborn will attempt to get
nonidentifying information on the child's and parents' medical health,
but that's not required.

The hospital or fire department representative also will attempt to
provide the parent with referral information about adoption options,
counseling service, domestic violence, postdelivery medical services
and the legal rights of parents.

Under the law, once the child is transferred, Child Protective Services
will be notified and will assume custody of the newborn.

It takes a lot of courage for a new mother or father to walk into a
hospital or fire station and walk out without his or her child.

Desperate circumstances require creative solutions.

Washington's child abandonment law must be hailed as a success, because
the real winners are six babies and counting who have a chance at life.

Newborn Safety Act

Safe Place for Newborns: A Bothell-based nonprofit whose goal it is to
put information about the child abandonment law into the hands of
at-risk youth and young adults.

Address: P.O. Box 1864, Bothell, WA 98041-1864

Call: 425-486-8456

Web site: www.safeplacefornewborns.org

Toll-free crisis hot line: 877-440-2229