A new “legalized” infant abandonment movement has emerged-–-separate from the 20-year-old Safe Haven Movement, which advocates the “legal abandonment” of newborns by the personal handover of newborns to the staff at specific locations such as hospitals, fire and police stations. Baby Boxes (not to be confused with baby boxes distributed to the parents of newborns by hospitals) resemble bank and library book depositories and contain a device similar to a baby incubator. They are installed in the outside walls of designated services, such as fire and police stations and hospitals.
Bastard Nation opposes Baby Boxes for myriad reasons. Baby Boxes ignore the socio-economic-political causes of newborn discard: poverty; inability to secure affordable medical treatment and care; denial or ignorance of pregnancy; draconian immigration policy and practice; substance abuse; physical and sexual abuse; shame; crime; mental illness; dysfunctional families; social isolation; and poor communication skills.
Baby Boxes are anti-adoptee, anti-adoption, and anti-family. They are a direct attack on adoptee civil rights, fathers’ rights, and ICWA. They fly in the face of contemporary child welfare practice and are a punch in the head to adoptees. Baby Boxes do not empower women and certainly not their abandoned children as they grow up. They trivialize pregnancy, commodify babies, and maintain adoption secrets and lies. Baby Boxes are promoted as an easy solution to very complex problems, and in the end leave everyone behind. Certainly, there are better solutions.
Our new comprehensive statement on Baby Drop Boxes and their negative impact on Class Bastard, adoption, child welfare— and our rights—is now published.
Please read it. Baby Boxes are a New Wave of the future and must be stopped. They are coming to your state and you need to be prepared. Check the BN Legislative Page for legislative news on them.