BabySafeHaven
07-02-2004, 02:10 AM
MASSACHUSETTS
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=72182
State Senate approves safe haven legislation
By Michael Kunzelman / News Staff Writer
Friday, July 2, 2004
BOSTON - Parents could abandon a newborn child at a hospital, police station or
24-hour fire station without being charged with a crime under legislation the
state Senate unanimously approved yesterday.
The House of Representatives passed a slightly different version of the
"safe haven" bill in March, by a vote of 137 to 21.
The measure could reach Gov. Mitt Romney's desk as early as next week if
the House agrees with a pair of technical changes the Senate made to the bill
yesterday.
Romney appears likely to sign the bill into law. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey
testified in favor of creating safe havens during a State House hearing in June
2003.
"The administration supports the concept of the bill," said Romney
spokeswoman Nicole St. Peter, "but, of course, we'll have to review the final
language before the governor signs it."
The Senate voted 38 to 0 in favor of the bill, which allows parents to
legally and anonymously abandon an infant at the safe havens within seven days
of the child's birth.
Parents could not be charged with child abandonment unless the baby shows
signs of physical abuse.
The state Department of Social Services would take custody of the
abandoned children, but the parents wouldn't automatically lose their parental
rights. The state would have to obtain a court order to terminate those
parental rights. More than 40 other states already have approved similar
legislation.
"This is a long time coming," said Sen. David Magnani, D-Framingham.
Magnani said the bill protects children's welfare without promoting child
abandonment.
"Reasonable people would disagree about where you draw that line," he
said. "We did about as well as we could in striking that balance."
To appease some of its critics, the bill's sponsors added a "sunset
provision" that would make the law expire Jan. 1, 2006, unless the Legislature
takes action to keep it on the books.
Other lawmakers had objected to language in the bill that would require
DSS to create an advertising campaign to promote the new law. But the House
amended the bill to set aside money for existing adoption services and teen
pregnancy prevention programs in addition to funding safe havens.
Although Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, voted in favor of the bill, he
expressed concern that parents wouldn't be required to disclose any information
about themselves or about the child's medical history.
"That could be a real problem for the child later in life," said Moore,
Senate chairman of the Health Care Committee. "I still have some serious
reservations about its effectiveness."
A Lexington couple, Michael and Jean Morrisey, are among the bill's most
outspoken advocates. Over the past few years, they have made dozens of trips to
the State House to lobby lawmakers and attended dozens more Town Meetings and
board of selectmen's meetings to rally support for the law.
The Morriseys, who volunteered to arrange for the burial of an abandoned
infant whose body was discovered in a Dorchester cemetery in 2001, said 12
children in Massachusetts have been abandoned since the safe haven bill first
surfaced in May 2000. Six of those 12 children died, they said.
"If this law could have saved at least one of those babies in
Massachusetts, it would have been well worth the effort," Jean Morrisey said.
"At this point, it doesn't make any sense not to pass it."
Rep. Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat who is one of the bill's most vocal
supporters, said she hopes the House passes it next Wednesday or Thursday, when
the chamber next meets in a formal session.
"We should be able to pass it very quickly," she said. "I believe it will
be on the governor's desk before this month is over."
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=72182
State Senate approves safe haven legislation
By Michael Kunzelman / News Staff Writer
Friday, July 2, 2004
BOSTON - Parents could abandon a newborn child at a hospital, police station or
24-hour fire station without being charged with a crime under legislation the
state Senate unanimously approved yesterday.
The House of Representatives passed a slightly different version of the
"safe haven" bill in March, by a vote of 137 to 21.
The measure could reach Gov. Mitt Romney's desk as early as next week if
the House agrees with a pair of technical changes the Senate made to the bill
yesterday.
Romney appears likely to sign the bill into law. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey
testified in favor of creating safe havens during a State House hearing in June
2003.
"The administration supports the concept of the bill," said Romney
spokeswoman Nicole St. Peter, "but, of course, we'll have to review the final
language before the governor signs it."
The Senate voted 38 to 0 in favor of the bill, which allows parents to
legally and anonymously abandon an infant at the safe havens within seven days
of the child's birth.
Parents could not be charged with child abandonment unless the baby shows
signs of physical abuse.
The state Department of Social Services would take custody of the
abandoned children, but the parents wouldn't automatically lose their parental
rights. The state would have to obtain a court order to terminate those
parental rights. More than 40 other states already have approved similar
legislation.
"This is a long time coming," said Sen. David Magnani, D-Framingham.
Magnani said the bill protects children's welfare without promoting child
abandonment.
"Reasonable people would disagree about where you draw that line," he
said. "We did about as well as we could in striking that balance."
To appease some of its critics, the bill's sponsors added a "sunset
provision" that would make the law expire Jan. 1, 2006, unless the Legislature
takes action to keep it on the books.
Other lawmakers had objected to language in the bill that would require
DSS to create an advertising campaign to promote the new law. But the House
amended the bill to set aside money for existing adoption services and teen
pregnancy prevention programs in addition to funding safe havens.
Although Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, voted in favor of the bill, he
expressed concern that parents wouldn't be required to disclose any information
about themselves or about the child's medical history.
"That could be a real problem for the child later in life," said Moore,
Senate chairman of the Health Care Committee. "I still have some serious
reservations about its effectiveness."
A Lexington couple, Michael and Jean Morrisey, are among the bill's most
outspoken advocates. Over the past few years, they have made dozens of trips to
the State House to lobby lawmakers and attended dozens more Town Meetings and
board of selectmen's meetings to rally support for the law.
The Morriseys, who volunteered to arrange for the burial of an abandoned
infant whose body was discovered in a Dorchester cemetery in 2001, said 12
children in Massachusetts have been abandoned since the safe haven bill first
surfaced in May 2000. Six of those 12 children died, they said.
"If this law could have saved at least one of those babies in
Massachusetts, it would have been well worth the effort," Jean Morrisey said.
"At this point, it doesn't make any sense not to pass it."
Rep. Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat who is one of the bill's most vocal
supporters, said she hopes the House passes it next Wednesday or Thursday, when
the chamber next meets in a formal session.
"We should be able to pass it very quickly," she said. "I believe it will
be on the governor's desk before this month is over."
