BabySafeHaven
03-21-2004, 01:50 AM
NEW JERSEY
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11148616&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_i
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Local News
Closing the loopholes
Abandonment law gets revisited
Al Sullivan
Reporter senior staff writer 03/21/2004
Closing a loophole in a law that would allow parents or their representatives
to abandon babies at area hospitals, police stations and other public places
without fearing arrest or criminal charges, the state Assembly passed new
legislation co-sponsored by Bayonne and Jersey City Assemblyman Lou Manzo.
In July 2000, after several years of extensive lobbying and education by the
New Jersey Right to Life, the state passed a law designed to address the
increase in infanticide and baby abandonment cases. More than 20 babies have
died since 1997 due to being abandoned in remote places. Under the law, an
individual could drop off an infant at emergency rooms of licensed hospitals or
police stations without threat of prosecution.
"Unfortunately," said Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, who represents Secaucus,
North Bergen and part of Jersey City, and who serves as official spokesperson
for St. Mary's Hospital in Hoboken and other hospitals in the Bon Secour
Healthcare System, "the representatives from the Division of Youth and Family
Services could still seek out that person if they discovered who it is. Under
this new legislation, DYFS could not."
In order to encourage parents to safely surrender their infants without fear of
identifying themselves, the new bill prohibits DYFS from attempting to identify
or contact the parents of an infant in the event DYFS receives information
about them. The only exception to this protection, however, is if child abuse
is suspected.
Under existing Safe Haven law, if DYFS becomes aware of the identity of the
baby's parents, birth family or the person who surrendered the infant, then a
DYFS representatives consults with the deputy attorney general to determine
whether or not to make contact.
"This bill would improve provision of the Safe Haven Act," said Manzo, "to
ensure that its original intent is being met and to protect newborns from being
endangered."
Under the new provision, anyone who delivers a child that is less than 30 days
old would not be prosecuted for child abandonment.
"Of course, it is an imperfect situation when we have to enact such
legislation," Manzo said. "However, this will work to protect the mothers when
all other options have been exhausted and a worse situation may otherwise
ensue."
The movement for the baby protection program began in Mobile Ala. by a
television reporter named Jodi Brooks and gained momentum in September 1999,
when a rash of 13 babies were abandoned in 10 months in the Houston, Texas
area. Texas became the first state in the nation to enact a Safe Haven law. New
Jersey began to consider the law after seven well-publicized cases, including
the Amy Grossberg case in which the college student from New Jersey and her
boyfriend abandoned their baby in a Dumpster in 1996.
While the law has been in effect since 2000, the Assembly acted to increase the
protection of the parents and reports showed that three babies were abandoned
in January 2004, despite the law. The body of a strangled six-pound newborn was
found in a bed washed ashore on an Atlantic County beach. Another newborn was
found in a trash bag behind a Trenton crack house.
"No child should be left for dead in a garbage can or in an alley if a parent
is unable to care for them," said Assemblyman Neil Cohen of Union County,
another co-sponsor of the bill.
How the system works
Those eligible under this program must be the parent or someone the parent sent
to deliver the baby. The parent or person must be acting on their own volition.
A neighbor cannot take the baby from someone thinking to save it from a parent.
The parent must intend to permanently give up the child.
When it is clear the baby had been abandoned, a hospital staff member carries
the baby into the emergency room treatment area. He or she immediately notifies
the hospital social worker, who calls the Safe Haven hotline at state Division
of Youth and Family Services, then notifies the emergency room physician and
the hospital's pediatrician. The doctors examine the baby to make certain there
have been no signs of mistreatment, then call the police.
A representative from the police department examines the baby, photographs the
baby then takes the baby's footprints to make certain this is not a missing or
kidnapped child.
While medical staff or police can ask questions about the baby, they cannot
detain the parent or seek identification from a parent who brings a baby to a
police station - state, county, local or even campus - or to a hospital. Such a
parent will not be charged with criminal neglect, provided the child shows no
signs of abuse.
As part of the last part of the process in New Jersey, hospital officials turn
over official custody to the state Division of Family Youth Services, which
orders the hospital to admit the baby into the pediatric department. The
hospital gives routine treatment and does a variety of tests, including tests
for HIV. The hospital also takes a sample of the baby's DNA in case the child
later proves to have been kidnapped or abandoned by a person not acting with
the parent's authorization. The last step of the process is the search for
parents to adopt the child.
"You can leave the baby anywhere in the hospital as along as you let someone
know it is there," Quigley said.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11148616&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_i
d=523585&rfi=6
Local News
Closing the loopholes
Abandonment law gets revisited
Al Sullivan
Reporter senior staff writer 03/21/2004
Closing a loophole in a law that would allow parents or their representatives
to abandon babies at area hospitals, police stations and other public places
without fearing arrest or criminal charges, the state Assembly passed new
legislation co-sponsored by Bayonne and Jersey City Assemblyman Lou Manzo.
In July 2000, after several years of extensive lobbying and education by the
New Jersey Right to Life, the state passed a law designed to address the
increase in infanticide and baby abandonment cases. More than 20 babies have
died since 1997 due to being abandoned in remote places. Under the law, an
individual could drop off an infant at emergency rooms of licensed hospitals or
police stations without threat of prosecution.
"Unfortunately," said Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, who represents Secaucus,
North Bergen and part of Jersey City, and who serves as official spokesperson
for St. Mary's Hospital in Hoboken and other hospitals in the Bon Secour
Healthcare System, "the representatives from the Division of Youth and Family
Services could still seek out that person if they discovered who it is. Under
this new legislation, DYFS could not."
In order to encourage parents to safely surrender their infants without fear of
identifying themselves, the new bill prohibits DYFS from attempting to identify
or contact the parents of an infant in the event DYFS receives information
about them. The only exception to this protection, however, is if child abuse
is suspected.
Under existing Safe Haven law, if DYFS becomes aware of the identity of the
baby's parents, birth family or the person who surrendered the infant, then a
DYFS representatives consults with the deputy attorney general to determine
whether or not to make contact.
"This bill would improve provision of the Safe Haven Act," said Manzo, "to
ensure that its original intent is being met and to protect newborns from being
endangered."
Under the new provision, anyone who delivers a child that is less than 30 days
old would not be prosecuted for child abandonment.
"Of course, it is an imperfect situation when we have to enact such
legislation," Manzo said. "However, this will work to protect the mothers when
all other options have been exhausted and a worse situation may otherwise
ensue."
The movement for the baby protection program began in Mobile Ala. by a
television reporter named Jodi Brooks and gained momentum in September 1999,
when a rash of 13 babies were abandoned in 10 months in the Houston, Texas
area. Texas became the first state in the nation to enact a Safe Haven law. New
Jersey began to consider the law after seven well-publicized cases, including
the Amy Grossberg case in which the college student from New Jersey and her
boyfriend abandoned their baby in a Dumpster in 1996.
While the law has been in effect since 2000, the Assembly acted to increase the
protection of the parents and reports showed that three babies were abandoned
in January 2004, despite the law. The body of a strangled six-pound newborn was
found in a bed washed ashore on an Atlantic County beach. Another newborn was
found in a trash bag behind a Trenton crack house.
"No child should be left for dead in a garbage can or in an alley if a parent
is unable to care for them," said Assemblyman Neil Cohen of Union County,
another co-sponsor of the bill.
How the system works
Those eligible under this program must be the parent or someone the parent sent
to deliver the baby. The parent or person must be acting on their own volition.
A neighbor cannot take the baby from someone thinking to save it from a parent.
The parent must intend to permanently give up the child.
When it is clear the baby had been abandoned, a hospital staff member carries
the baby into the emergency room treatment area. He or she immediately notifies
the hospital social worker, who calls the Safe Haven hotline at state Division
of Youth and Family Services, then notifies the emergency room physician and
the hospital's pediatrician. The doctors examine the baby to make certain there
have been no signs of mistreatment, then call the police.
A representative from the police department examines the baby, photographs the
baby then takes the baby's footprints to make certain this is not a missing or
kidnapped child.
While medical staff or police can ask questions about the baby, they cannot
detain the parent or seek identification from a parent who brings a baby to a
police station - state, county, local or even campus - or to a hospital. Such a
parent will not be charged with criminal neglect, provided the child shows no
signs of abuse.
As part of the last part of the process in New Jersey, hospital officials turn
over official custody to the state Division of Family Youth Services, which
orders the hospital to admit the baby into the pediatric department. The
hospital gives routine treatment and does a variety of tests, including tests
for HIV. The hospital also takes a sample of the baby's DNA in case the child
later proves to have been kidnapped or abandoned by a person not acting with
the parent's authorization. The last step of the process is the search for
parents to adopt the child.
"You can leave the baby anywhere in the hospital as along as you let someone
know it is there," Quigley said.
