THE NEWS: Hospitals, emergency medical facilities, and fire and police stations are installing uniform signs that identify them as Safe Havens for newborn babies in Illinois. An amendment to the Abandonment Newborn Infant Protection Act requires Safe Havens to post the signage in a prominent place on the exterior of the building.
OUR SAFE HAVEN LAW: Says that a parent of an unharmed newborn baby (up to seven days old) can hand the baby to a staff member at a Safe Haven and walk away with no questions asked. The law enables first responders to literally rescue a newborn infant from a parent’s arms before any harm comes to the baby. It gives a parent in crisis a safe option within those first critical days of life when babies are most at risk of being killed or abandoned illegally.
There are 89 documented cases since Illinois enacted the law in 2001: 41 babies relinquished at a Safe Haven, and 49 babies illegally abandoned with 25 of those babies surviving and 24 who died. That’s a 51% survival rate for babies who were not taken to a Safe Haven.
Illinois has good law that’s been used as a model in other states (all 50 of which now have some kind of Safe Haven law). It provides a process that can be executed quickly, and it’s thorough:
- Medical exam for baby.
- Information packet for the relinquishing parent (information on termination of parental rights, a medical history form that can be mailed back anonymously, a list of counseling services).
- Police check for a kidnapped or missing baby.
- Check of Father’s Punitive Registry to protect fathers’ rights.
- Unharmed babies are placed with a pre-approved adoption agency, not in foster care.
- When taught in public schools, health curriculum must include the Safe Haven law.
- And now, uniform signage is required on the exterior of Safe Havens across the State.
It costs so little and saves so much in terms of emergency medical care and/or death-related services for the babies, the cost of pursuing, prosecuting and incarcerating parents who abandon illegally, the cost of foster care, and, with the survival rate of illegally abandoned babies at 51%, it is clearly saving lives.
ABOUT THE PARENTS: This happens with all kinds of people in all kinds of communities. The one thing these cases appear to have in common is that the pregnancies are usually hidden.
CALL TO ACTION: When you see a sign at a Safe Haven, point it out to your family and friends. Talk about the law. If you know someone you think might be hiding a pregnancy, make sure they know this option exists. You just might save a life.
RESOURCES: Text of the law available at www.ilga.gov; see 325ILCS under “Compiled Statutes;” Section 22 addresses the signage. Full information available at the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation web site, a 501C3 all-volunteer organization dedicated to Safe Haven awareness in Illinois: www.SaveAbandonedBabies.org.
