BabySafeHaven
02-04-2004, 01:36 PM
MASSACHUSETTS
http://www.enterprisenews.com/articles/2004/02/04/news/opinion/opinion01.txt
EDITORIAL - Brockton Enterprise
Legislature again fails to protect babies
It's too bad that people in Whitman, Wareham and 11 other communities have to
go to all the trouble of collecting signatures for a "safe haven" law for
abandoned babies when the Legislature should do the work for them. But the bill
that would allow parents to leave children in safe places if they cannot care
for them has stalled repeatedly on Beacon Hill. People in the cities and towns
far from Boston feel they have no choice but to seek home-rule petitions for
their own safe havens.
Few things are more tragic than a baby abandoned. But one thing that is more
tragic is a baby who is killed. In the months before the Legislature first took
up the safe haven debate in 2002, several babies were killed by their desperate
parents. One young woman threw her newborn into the Ware River and another
newborn was found dead in a cemetery in Dorchester. If those parents knew there
was a place they could leave their children where they would be safe and warm
and no one would ask them questions, those children — and others — might be
alive today.
It goes against human nature to fail to ask questions. People want to know why
a baby is abandoned and if there is no alternative. But some of these babies
are abandoned by young women who have serious substance abuse problems or have
no support structure. The ideal solution would be to get help for both mother
and child. But if that cannot be done, the welfare of the baby must come first.
So it makes sense to designate a church, hospital or other location as a place
where a baby can be left in good hands — no questions asked.
Massachusetts is one of just five states without a safe haven law. Another bill
is pending in the Legislature and will be discussed in the House next week. It
already has its critics; but to do nothing is the worst possible solution.
The politicians are trying to tweak the bill and address paternal rights and
other issues that are being fairly raised in the debate. But they must pass
some bill and eliminate the nonsense of 351 cities and towns trying to decide
for themselves what to do. Surely there must be a model law in one of the 45
states that have managed to pass the measure that is acceptable to
Massachusetts politicians.
Lives depend on it.
http://www.enterprisenews.com/articles/2004/02/04/news/opinion/opinion01.txt
EDITORIAL - Brockton Enterprise
Legislature again fails to protect babies
It's too bad that people in Whitman, Wareham and 11 other communities have to
go to all the trouble of collecting signatures for a "safe haven" law for
abandoned babies when the Legislature should do the work for them. But the bill
that would allow parents to leave children in safe places if they cannot care
for them has stalled repeatedly on Beacon Hill. People in the cities and towns
far from Boston feel they have no choice but to seek home-rule petitions for
their own safe havens.
Few things are more tragic than a baby abandoned. But one thing that is more
tragic is a baby who is killed. In the months before the Legislature first took
up the safe haven debate in 2002, several babies were killed by their desperate
parents. One young woman threw her newborn into the Ware River and another
newborn was found dead in a cemetery in Dorchester. If those parents knew there
was a place they could leave their children where they would be safe and warm
and no one would ask them questions, those children — and others — might be
alive today.
It goes against human nature to fail to ask questions. People want to know why
a baby is abandoned and if there is no alternative. But some of these babies
are abandoned by young women who have serious substance abuse problems or have
no support structure. The ideal solution would be to get help for both mother
and child. But if that cannot be done, the welfare of the baby must come first.
So it makes sense to designate a church, hospital or other location as a place
where a baby can be left in good hands — no questions asked.
Massachusetts is one of just five states without a safe haven law. Another bill
is pending in the Legislature and will be discussed in the House next week. It
already has its critics; but to do nothing is the worst possible solution.
The politicians are trying to tweak the bill and address paternal rights and
other issues that are being fairly raised in the debate. But they must pass
some bill and eliminate the nonsense of 351 cities and towns trying to decide
for themselves what to do. Surely there must be a model law in one of the 45
states that have managed to pass the measure that is acceptable to
Massachusetts politicians.
Lives depend on it.
