Matthew Bowers
The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Who is this baby boy?
Who are his parents?
Who literally left him on the doorstep of Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center before dawn Tuesday, and why?
And how often do struggling parents take advantage of a state law that allows them to leave newborns with hospital workers or a rescue squad without fear of prosecution?
Those questions swirled around Tuesday's discovery of a healthy newborn believed to be no more than 2 weeks old, clothed and wrapped in a baby blanket inside an unzipp ed bag.
An employee noticed someone leaving a bundle shortly after 5 a.m. in the doorway of the locked DePaul Medical Atrium, an office building adjoining the hospital, near the main entrance on Kingsley Lane off Granby Street, said Lynne Zultanky, a spokeswoman for Bon Secours Hampton Roads. A security guard making rounds found the baby 20 minutes later.
Emergency room doctors pronounced the boy healthy, and police issued an alert for the public's help in finding his parents.
"I can tell you, nurses are fighting over who gets to hold him in the emergency room," Zultanky said.
She said the boy was white and 1 to 2 weeks old, clean and in apparent good condition. After being examined by a pediatrician, the child was handed over to Child Protective Services, Zultanky said. Police were working with hospital security to review surveillance camera recordings, she said.
All states - Virginia since 2003 - have what often are called "safe haven" laws that allow parents to leave babies under certain conditions, without repercussions, as an attempt to reduce child abuse and deaths from abandonment, according to the National Safe Haven Alliance.
Virginia's law specifies that parents may drop off a baby "within the first 14 days of the child's life" at a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency service, or at a staffed rescue squad with emergency medical technicians. The law also requires that the child be delivered "in a manner reasonably calculated to ensure the child's safety."
The state doesn't track the number of infants abandoned in such a manner, but counts them under the larger category of abuse and neglect, Marianne McGhee, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Social Services, said in an e-mail.
That means there is no way to tell whether the safe-haven provision is helping to reduce infant abuse or deaths, said Betty Wade Coyle, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Hampton Roads.
About five years ago, Zultanky said, a woman walked into DePaul and handed a baby to a nurse. She said the
staff couldn't recall another instance of a baby being surrendered or abandoned at the hospital.
Other local hospitals reached Tuesday also had no such incidents. Spokespersons recalled a healthy boy left in a bag in the Sentara Leigh Hospital parking lot in the 1990s, and a day-old girl left in 2005 in bushes in front of what is now the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.
Coyle applauded whoever left the boy at DePaul on Tuesday for providing him a chance at a happier life.
And she decried attempts to find or prosecute the parents. No one knows whether the child was thought to be in danger, or the product of rape or incest, and the family's privacy should be protected, she said. She said she intended to call officials to argue that point.
"According to the statute, you're supposed to hand it to a hospital person," Coyle said. "But this was damn close."
Police asked anyone with information about the baby to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (562-5887).
Cindy Clayton, (757) 446-2377, cindy.clayton@pilotonline.com
Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com
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Safe Haven - and the lack of identity
Here in the US we call it "Safe Haven". Some hospitals and private organizations in Germany have installed about 80 "baby-hatches/drop-off boxes". It is simple - push a button, a hatch opens, place child into a warming bed, no cameras, a "silent" alarm alerts the staff, the child is safely retrieved. Anonymous delivery is another option in France and Germany. More than 400,000 children have been born legally this way in France since 1941. The preferred common understanding seems to be that the child is safe from possibly the fate of neonaticide (killing the newborn) or immediate or later abuse. Neonaticide appears to be committed by women who have already shown severe personality problems and are unable to think towards any kind of solution that would ensure the well-being of the baby. Panic and stress push them over the top, the idea of using a "Safe Haven" option cannot enter their mind. Women who drop off their baby anonymously or deliver anonymously are often women who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy, pushed by circumstances, close relatives or partners towards these solutions.
Where does it leave the child, this anonymity? Without roots, names, genetic history,
Concerns
"more than 2 weeks old, clothed and wrapped in a baby blanket inside an unzipped bag.
An employee noticed someone leaving a bundle shortly after 5 a.m. in the doorway of the locked DePaul Medical Atrium, an office building adjoining the hospital."
Virginia Law:
"specifies that parents may drop off a baby "within the first 14 days of the child's life" at a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency service, or at a staffed rescue squad with emergency medical technicians. The law also requires that the child be delivered "in a manner reasonably calculated to ensure the child's safety."
What concerns me is why was the baby dropped off in front of a locked building adjacent to the hospital? Does this count as "in a manner reasonably calculated to ensure the child's safety."? Luckily it was seen and found by a roving guard but what if it wasnt?
tough situation
While the mother absolutely should not be harassed or face any charges if she felt she could not handle being a mother and dropped off her baby at a hospital, there are other possibilities to consider. What if it was not the mother, but the father who dropped off the baby without her knowledge? What if the mother is not alive now and her murderer, though able to kill an adult, didn't have the heart to leave the baby to fend for himself and die? While I agree with the idea of having a safe place to drop off an unwanted child without consequences, more really does need to be known about the circumstances in these cases.
Not to make light
Not to make light of the situation, but if any crime was committed it was by choosing DePaul as the "safe place".
Seriously though, this female did the right thing. I'm going to assume that those of you condemning her also support abortion.
Obviously adoption would have been the best choice, but the reality of life is that it's not always so black and white. This program was created for this very reason and although this woman is not a "hero" she did choose the lesser of MANY evils.
right choice
I believe this mother made the right choice to leave the baby at the hospital under the safe haven law. This was not a selfish decision because she thought of the welfare of this child and left him where he could be found. So many people are so quick to criticize but obviously they have never had to make such a serious choice for someone else's welfare. Likely this is a yound woman, possibly a teenager but who are you to judge???? All females should feel as if they have this option, no matter the circumstances of how they got to this point. After all it took two to tangle and now a baby's life has been saved and will likely be placed with a loving family that will be happy to add them to their family. Everyone else should take a good look at themselves before acting like GOD!
It doesn't say that the
It doesn't say that the police will be pursuing charges. All the article says is that the police are investigating (and so is the hospital and social services)... as they should. The authorities have a duty to ensure the child was not a victim of an abduction, the mother's welfare is fine, etc. And the mother needs to get post-natal care, if nothing else. Surely things are not always on the up-and-up when babies are just left somewhere, even if it is within the confines of the law.
WHAT?!?!?
What's the purpose of having a safe haven law if the police are going to turn around and potentially press charges? Do they not realize what NEGATIVE message this sends to others who should or may have to give up their children? It was not as if the child was left at the bus station or the median of a major thoroughfare -- he was left at the front door of the hospital!
The child is healthy and safe -- let it go.....
Look up Imani Rogers of Portsmouth or Baby Briana in Mexico
Imani Rogers was a 3 year old little girl that ended up in the custody of a relative because her mother decided that her own child wasnt worth her doing right by. Less, then two years later Imani was dead at the hands of that relative. She had been beaten, raped, unfeed, and unloved by someone who really didnt want her, just tortured her instead of dropping her off at a Safe Haven or turning her over to CPS. Had this child's mother been woman enough to stand up and say I cant do it, and done the same as this mother did today, chances are Imani Rogers would be just starting High School this year. Baby Briana was a 6 month old beaten that was unfeed, beaten, raped, shaken, even tossed into the ceiling only to fall violently on the floor... by her own parents and uncles. If only they had of left that child @ a hospital, she wouldve turned 6 this year. So you see, sure enough the mother couldve done it differently, but at the end of the day that child is alive and healthy.....with his whole life ahead of him. RIP Imani & Briana
Baby Boy
But whose to say that this child will make it threw the system. I am glad that the boy is alive but are we sending out a signal to the group of "Whoevers gets pregnant and don't want their baby" that instead of getting intervention just drop your child off at a local hospital and go about your business. What we should be saying is come in and get some help so that this doesn't happen again.
So what doesn't happen again?
That a mother decides to leave her child in a relatively safe place, where he/she will no doubt be found before any harm comes to him/her; OR would you rather see that same mother dump the child in the garbage dumpster where it may not ever be found? I am not sure what kind of intervention you think would save this mother from making the right choice as to the disposition of an unwanted child, other than abortion. This appears to be a much more humane solution. Leave her be, she did the right thing under the current safe have law.