I was just watching out local news and there was a feature on babies being abandoned in hospitals in Oregon and Washington after a baby was abandoned in a Vancouver Wa Hospital. (short brief: http://www.katu.com/stories/86970.html ). The infant is fine thank goodness!!!
I didn't know this but I guess it is legal to abandon your baby in a hospital or fire station within a certain period of time in the two states. Washington state it is 72 hours after birth, Oregon it is 30 days. I had no idea about that law!!! So this woman will not get punishment or repremand for doing this. The article did say that if there were signs of abuse, that a parent then is held responsible and will face an abuse charge.
They said that the child will be a toddler before she would be able for adoption because of the process of trying to find a family member who may want her (the woman left a fake name so it is hard to find her or family)...and other things the state must do.
That seems so sad for this infant, however...maybe living with the mother would be far worse?
Do you think it should remain legal to abandon your infant at a hospital or fire station?
I was just watching out local news and there was a feature on babies being abandoned in hospitals in Oregon and Washington after a baby was abandoned in a Vancouver Wa Hospital. (short brief: http://www.katu.com/stories/86970.html ). The infant is fine thank goodness!!!
I didn't know this but I guess it is legal to abandon your baby in a hospital or fire station within a certain period of time in the two states. Washington state it is 72 hours after birth, Oregon it is 30 days. I had no idea about that law!!! So this woman will not get punishment or repremand for doing this. The article did say that if there were signs of abuse, that a parent then is held responsible and will face an abuse charge.
They said that the child will be a toddler before she would be able for adoption because of the process of trying to find a family member who may want her (the woman left a fake name so it is hard to find her or family)...and other things the state must do.
That seems so sad for this infant, however...maybe living with the mother would be far worse?
Do you think it should remain legal to abandon your infant at a hospital or fire station?
I think it should remain legal. Would you rather babies be abandoned in a trash bin instead or a back alley? I think keeping it legal protects the infants from being left somewhere where no one would find them. I have the same argument about keeping abortion legal. If it becomes illegal, women will go back to the days of coat hangers and back alley abortions. Although this won't guarantee that all babies will be left at the hospital instead of another horrible place, it does make it more likely that they will be left in a safe place. I would rather see that instead.
Do you think it should remain legal to abandon your infant at a hospital or fire station?
Yes I do, especially when the other option is to discover the baby in a garbage dumpster the next day because the parent felt no other options were available.
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
Thanks for all the posts, I too am in favor of it for obvious reasons!
The thing that got me thinking was if women would use this as a form of birth control...get pregant knowing you can just drop them off at any firestation or hospital and be done with it. I hope that doesn't happen , but the pros far outweigh any cons in my oppinion.
A news poll on the matter showed that many people are in favor of it like we are!
However, there were people out there that expressed upset at the amount of money being spent on legal costs, detective time searching for the family's, and the cost of raising a child through the foster systems... They also expressed that they fear abandoned babies will become a norm for any scared mother. Some also bashed our Childrens Services Division for not being able to take care of our foster children and children in danger to begin with let alone an infant (I must admit our CSD has gotten into hot water too often, and are feared for their tactics...so much that people don't call them even when they should!)
BUT..they all would express that this was a better situation than death alone in a trash can or toliet!
I am for it..and I think the concerns that the public told can be worked on!
Specializes in primary care, pediatrics, OB/GYN, NICU.
It sure beats putting the baby in a box and hoping someone answers the doorbell. Its a safe haven for the child without the parent having to go to jail because they realized they could not care for the child. I think its terrific and it will bless many families who could not have children.
Exactly. I am a nurse in Oregon. The whole point of this law is to prevent the problem of babies being abandoned in trash cans or abused by people unable to handle the baby's care either because they are too young, drug addicted, out of control, without resources, etc. When people are afraid of prosecution, they won't take an infant to an ER/hospital or fire station where the baby will be physically safe. We are supposed to try and get as much info as possible from the person who drops the baby off...who knows if it's true...but at least the baby doesn't die from exposure out in the weather. I happen to think it's a great law.
Although I think some valid points are raised, it still doesn't sway my opinion. I would much rather that any woman who feels desperate enough to abandon an infant/child will at least have a safe place to do so. I think that although most of us agree with concept of Safe Haven laws, realistically we all know that we have not heard the last news story about a women/young girls so entrenched in their own denial about an unplanned pregnancy that it results in the death of a newborn.
In each individual case, and for varying reasons, these women are in a state of desperation and fear, irregardless if there is any rationality behind it. If even one sees enough light at the end of that tunnel through Safe Haven laws, it is worth it. The bottom line is that I would much rather find a living infant/child on my door step (so to speak) than in the dumpster.
Yes it is very sad for the infant to not be able to be adopted until being a toddler, but they are alive and that's what counts!
I do think that every effort should be made to find the fathers of these children. Their rights and what they want are often overlooked in these situations. This is my only disagreement with Safe Haven laws, if a mother abandons an infant anonymously how can it be determined whether or not this was a decision the father of the child was even involved in. The other side of the coin is that being able to anonymously drop an infant off may be a key factor that determines whether a child may live or die.
In a perfect world we would be able to reach these mothers long before they even gave birth, in fact we would reach them long before they even became pregnant. There is no easy answers or perfect solutions out there.
Exactly. I am a nurse in Oregon. The whole point of this law is to prevent the problem of babies being abandoned in trash cans or abused by people unable to handle the baby's care either because they are too young, drug addicted, out of control, without resources, etc. When people are afraid of prosecution, they won't take an infant to an ER/hospital or fire station where the baby will be physically safe. We are supposed to try and get as much info as possible from the person who drops the baby off...who knows if it's true...but at least the baby doesn't die from exposure out in the weather. I happen to think it's a great law.
We have this law in Washington State as well, and I am also in favor of it. I don't know the particulars of this law, but I hope that it includes a provision, that abandoned babies can never be reclaimed by the birth mother, or the biiological father. This will give adoptive parents the peace of mind that the baby will not be taken back. This is is reason that many potential adoptive families are choosing foreign adoptions, over adoptions here in this country, for fear the birth mother will want the baby back. It would be enough to keep me from trying to adopt a baby in this country. JMHO, and $0.2.
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
That is where things get tricky isn't it! I don't know the specifics, but I don't think the mother should ever be allowed to take the child back!
However, what if the mother did this on her own? What about the father, the fathers family or even the mothers family that may not have known about this (lots of sceneros for this...divorsed parents living out of state, mother's family never knew about the preg, etc.). What about their rights to the baby? Are their good laws in place to provide safety and fairness to the families of this that had no part in it? That was my concern, and bigger yet...what if being in that family dynamic is unhealthy even if they had no idea what happened? Do they still have a right? Uhggggggg...I see a big kettle of fish on that one!
A parent nightmare for me, my son when he gets older gets a girl pregnant and doesn't tell me, and she does this without my sons knowledge or even with...and I would have no rights to raise the baby myself! (heck just the pregancy would be a nightmare for me if he wasn't married and planning it!).
, but the pros far outweigh any cons in my oppinion.
ZASHAGALKA, RN
3,322 Posts
NO, you didn't. And, I wasn't disagreeing with you. :trout:
I was just expounding on what you said.
~faith,
Timothy.