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?
go to http://www.metacafe.com and search for baby save. if you were ever in doubt about whether having the option of leaving your baby at a safe haven is a good idea, this will show you first-hand why it is.
Specializes in Peds Cardiology,Peds Neuro,Pedi ER,PICU, IV Jedi.
I'll agree that Baby Safe sites are an excellent idea, and are available here in Texas..thank goodness.
Soapbox rant...And as far as the rights of the father??? To hell with him. He's not a father, he's a sperm donor. That's it. What these young (and not so young) men fail to realize is their responsibility...to the baby's mother, to their child, and to society for raising said child.
IMHO there is NOTHING more important than being a good father to your children, and if you don't have the balls to stick around and do it...then you lose whatever right you thought you had to that child.
go to www.metacafe.com and search for baby save. if you were ever in doubt about whether having the option of leaving your baby at a safe haven is a good idea this will show you first-hand why it is.[/quote']
OH MY GOD! Thank goodness they found her. Watching that gave me goosebumps!
We have this in Indiana. Our county even has a written EMS protocol for abandoned infants left at Fire, EMS or police stations. Sadly though, it is ones who need this information the most that still don't know about the law.
It's legal in VA. Guys you can't have your cake and eat it too, its better for the baby be left at a hospital than in a trash cans. In my part of town the number of abandoned babies decrease when this safe haven law took place.
We have this in Indiana. Our county even has a written EMS protocol for abandoned infants left at Fire, EMS or police stations. Sadly though, it is ones who need this information the most that still don't know about the law.
around the time when alot of babies were being found in dumpsters, the news kept playing a segment about how it was ok to leave the babies at the hospitals. And said that there was no cameras and that they can't be charged.
I'm not sure if it's discussed in schools right now, but I think that when kids are getting their sex education in health class (usually junior high, right?) that they should talk about the Safe Haven law. To me that seems like a good time to get it into these kids' heads so that later on in life, if they're faced with that situation, they will at least have heard about the law.
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goats'r'us, ASN, RN
307 Posts
go to http://www.metacafe.com and search for baby save. if you were ever in doubt about whether having the option of leaving your baby at a safe haven is a good idea, this will show you first-hand why it is.