BabySafeHaven
08-10-2004, 04:57 AM
IOWA
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2004/08/10/news/regional/ea337c58
a692c42d86256eec0015820a.txt
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Officials say Newborn Safe Haven Act a success
By Kristin Hoelscher, Journal Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES -- Six newborns have been left in the custody of Iowa hospitals
since the Newborn Safe Haven Act became state law in July 2001, and Department
of Human Services officials contend the program allowing mothers to anonymously
hand over babies to health care facilities has been a success.
The two most recent cases occurred last week and involve babies delivered in
hospitals, although officials declined to release details citing
confidentiality rules. The children are in temporary custody of the DHS and
have been placed with foster parents who will seek to adopt them once parental
rights are severed.
The Safe Haven Act provides parents with immunity from prosecution for
abandonment or neglect upon leaving an infant -- 14 days old or younger -- in
the care of a hospital or health facility. Lawmakers approved the measure with
hopes of dissuading troubled mothers from killing or abandoning unwanted
newborns.
The role of the DHS in the Safe Haven program is to preserve the anonymity of
parents and ensure their rights are preserved but quickly severed so adoption
procedures can begin as soon as possible.
"This law is designed to be a non-threatening answer for confused or troubled
parents -- an answer which protects newborn children -- and it's working," DHS
spokesman Roger Munns said.
Initially the DHS was skeptical of the law's effectiveness because the target
audience was a difficult group to reach. Many women with unwanted pregnancies
are young, distressed and unfamiliar with Iowa's laws, Munns said.
The DHS created a Safe Haven logo to post in hospitals and flyers to distribute
at other health care facilities in an effort to spread the word of the new
option available to women with unwanted pregnancies.
The agency's predictions that parents would not leave unwanted babies held true
until March 2003, nearly two years after the Safe Haven Act went into effect,
when the first infant was taken to an Iowa hospital.
In each of Iowa's first four Safe Haven cases, parents handed the newborns over
to hospitals following delivery elsewhere. Sometimes the babies were left with
notes explaining the circumstances of abandonment.
In every case, a hearing to sever parental rights is scheduled within a month
of abandonment. The hearing is the parents' last chance to reclaim custody of
the child. All six Iowa Safe Haven babies have been adopted.
But cases of illegal abandonment have continued to occur since the law's 2001
passage. The most publicized case occurred in Storm Lake during the summer of
2002 when the body of a newborn was found at a recycling facility.
Investigators were unable to determine the identity of the baby's parents and a
battle between authorities and the local Planned Parenthood ensued over files
of patients who had been in the latter stages of pregnancy.
The case was never solved.
"As expected, there were people the state was not able to reach, and those
cases did not have the desired effect of the law," Munns said. "But the words
seems to be getting out there."
Iowa was the 31st of 45 states to adopt a form of safe haven legislation and
the remaining five, including Nebraska, have bills pending.
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2004/08/10/news/regional/ea337c58
a692c42d86256eec0015820a.txt
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Officials say Newborn Safe Haven Act a success
By Kristin Hoelscher, Journal Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES -- Six newborns have been left in the custody of Iowa hospitals
since the Newborn Safe Haven Act became state law in July 2001, and Department
of Human Services officials contend the program allowing mothers to anonymously
hand over babies to health care facilities has been a success.
The two most recent cases occurred last week and involve babies delivered in
hospitals, although officials declined to release details citing
confidentiality rules. The children are in temporary custody of the DHS and
have been placed with foster parents who will seek to adopt them once parental
rights are severed.
The Safe Haven Act provides parents with immunity from prosecution for
abandonment or neglect upon leaving an infant -- 14 days old or younger -- in
the care of a hospital or health facility. Lawmakers approved the measure with
hopes of dissuading troubled mothers from killing or abandoning unwanted
newborns.
The role of the DHS in the Safe Haven program is to preserve the anonymity of
parents and ensure their rights are preserved but quickly severed so adoption
procedures can begin as soon as possible.
"This law is designed to be a non-threatening answer for confused or troubled
parents -- an answer which protects newborn children -- and it's working," DHS
spokesman Roger Munns said.
Initially the DHS was skeptical of the law's effectiveness because the target
audience was a difficult group to reach. Many women with unwanted pregnancies
are young, distressed and unfamiliar with Iowa's laws, Munns said.
The DHS created a Safe Haven logo to post in hospitals and flyers to distribute
at other health care facilities in an effort to spread the word of the new
option available to women with unwanted pregnancies.
The agency's predictions that parents would not leave unwanted babies held true
until March 2003, nearly two years after the Safe Haven Act went into effect,
when the first infant was taken to an Iowa hospital.
In each of Iowa's first four Safe Haven cases, parents handed the newborns over
to hospitals following delivery elsewhere. Sometimes the babies were left with
notes explaining the circumstances of abandonment.
In every case, a hearing to sever parental rights is scheduled within a month
of abandonment. The hearing is the parents' last chance to reclaim custody of
the child. All six Iowa Safe Haven babies have been adopted.
But cases of illegal abandonment have continued to occur since the law's 2001
passage. The most publicized case occurred in Storm Lake during the summer of
2002 when the body of a newborn was found at a recycling facility.
Investigators were unable to determine the identity of the baby's parents and a
battle between authorities and the local Planned Parenthood ensued over files
of patients who had been in the latter stages of pregnancy.
The case was never solved.
"As expected, there were people the state was not able to reach, and those
cases did not have the desired effect of the law," Munns said. "But the words
seems to be getting out there."
Iowa was the 31st of 45 states to adopt a form of safe haven legislation and
the remaining five, including Nebraska, have bills pending.
