Category Archives: Baby Abandonment/Safe Haven

Discussion newborn abandonment and “safe haven”laws

"SAFE HAVEN" SURVIVOR

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

In Columbus this summer a Grove City-area woman “surrendered” her newborn (and on Bastardette) into the Ohio “safe haven” program. Later, she and her mother talked to Columbus Dispatch reporter Rita Price about what had happened According to them, the 20-year old mother agreed to the “safe haven” under the influence of delivery-room medication. She received no counseling and was under the impression that “safe haven was a “Christian adoption program” not an anonymous baby mill. Naturally, officials at Doctors Hospital have refused comment. Last we heard, the mother had gone to court to retrieve her baby. (I am working on a longer piece on this case and ODJFS shenanigans for here and broader publication). This woman is one of the very few “safe haven” mothers who have been granted a public voice, be it ever so small. Now, we have another voice: Melissa from Michigan. Melissa sent her story to blogger Baby Love Child, in response to an earlier entry on “safe haven” mislabeling.” While her comments remain on that entry, BLC has also posted them together with a short commentary in a separate entry A Critical Perspective on Baby Safe Haven Baby Dump Programs. Melissa tells us that Continue Reading →

STATE-APPROVED ABANDONMENT HOAXES CANNOT PIMP BABY DUMPING

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Early this morning, Mr. or Mrs. Morrisey (probably Mrs.) hiding under the cloak of “anonymity” attempted to post a comment here regarding yesterday’s entry. The fact that for the last 2 1/2 years the couple has been banned from posting on The Daily Bastardette hasn’t stopped them from sending dozens of traceable comments to me. All their snark-bombs have been archived. I suppose one of these days I should post an anthology, complete with 4-letter explicatives, for reader amusement. But today, I am breaking my own rule and posting this morning’s M comment: The baby has its full medical and familial history due to the SH law, so this is a positive outcome! As usual, the Ms and their ilk miss the point: ODJFS/DJFS is abusing Ohio’s “safe haven” law. The state, in essence from what we can tell, has unilaterally and administratively amended Ohio’s “safe haven” law; created a post facto defense hatch for women who lie to police. The Passewitz abandonment was a hoax. If Ms. Passewitz intended to legally dump her baby via “safe haven,” she made no effort to do so at the time of her 911 call. She did not, in the ill-chosen words of Continue Reading →

OHIO ABANDONED BABY CASE SOLVED: WE KNEW IT! HOAX!

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

I‘ve held back on this entry waiting for some follow-up, which hasn’t happened. So, here it is…except for some additions, as I wrote it on October 30. Back in early June, a justborn, umbilical cord still attached, was found by “passing motorist” Allison Passewitz, 24, on a patch of grass near the Meijer (discount store) parking lot in Lewis Center, just north of Columbus, To be specific, at the intersection of Owensfield and Neverland Drive. (Can I make that up?) The discovery received much local press coverage, including the release of the 911 call made by the heroic Ms. Passsewitz (who “did the right thing” by rescuing an infant in distress when she could have just sped right by on her way to the gym) to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department. Ms. Passewitz fortuitously had a bedsheet in the backseat of her car in which to wrap the deserted baby. Bastardette was ready to bet a Hyatt Cap South Sunday Brunch that the quick-witted Ms. Passewitz was the mother. It was a way-too-typical “coincidence” to be anything else. But, I’m not the Sheriff, so we let it play out. (The link to the original June 9 Channel 6 video, which Continue Reading →

ARIZONA: MORE "SAFE HAVEN" FANTASY; BLC LINK

Posted on by — 5 Comments ↓

I’ve been falling down on the job again. I’ll have a major blog up (hopefully today, but I’m not sure) and get back in the saddle again, as Gene Autry once sang. In the meantime, I suggest you check out Baby Love Child’s new entry, Unsafe haven: Dead baby found inside hospital, “about 100 feet” from the hospital’s dumpbox: For those who insist a “safe haven” babydump box in every hospital would ensure their mythical ‘no dead babies,’ think again. Case in point? Glendale, AZ, where a 15 year old gave birth in the hospital bathroom, leaving a baby boy in the bathroom trash can, “about 100 feet from a Safe Haven” dumpbox. Then, from the news story itself: Glendale police are investigating a baby found dead in a hospital, allegedly in a trash can. The baby was found on Saturday in the emergency room at Banner Thunderbird Hospital, only about 100 feet from a Safe Haven drop-off location. A teen went to the emergency room with her mother complaining of stomach and back pains. BLC has visited the Banner Thunderbird Hospital and posts her personal pictures of the dumpbox on her blog. Also check out the bizarre but important Continue Reading →

SAFE HAVENS: TIME TO AUDIT THE BOOKS

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

Since the codification of legalized baby dumping in the US, there has been growing evidence that cases once considered “boarder baby” abandonments are being folded into “safe haven cases.” That is, babies born to (usually) identified mothers in hospitals and left by the parent(s) beyond the time of discharge (the official definition [pdf] of boarder babies) are being counted as “safe haven” saved-from-the-dumpster. Numerous news reports tell us of mothers walking out of hospitals after giving birth using the “safe haven option.” One of the latest and most blatant reports was the DIY advice published in the November 11, 2008 Newark Star Ledger, How you can put your baby in a loving home. One of the most disturbing appeared in the Abeline Reporter News, June 20, 2008, Baby Moses Law allows for “safe abandonment about a “safe haven” in Richardson, Texas, where a woman had given birth there, then said she didn’t want the child, Summey said. “The hospital didn’t know what to do. It was a Baby Moses abandonment, but the mom needed medical attention. CPS foots the bill for (the baby’s) medical care, but they didn’t know if the mother was covered as well.”The Michigan Department of Human Continue Reading →

ANOTHER PHONY "SAVE"

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

From the San Gabriel Valley News: The baby was surrendered after her mother’s water broke and she called a West Covina hospital inquiring about a county program that accepts unwanted babies. The baby, a girl, was born Tuesday at the same hospital, said Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. She had 9 months, and this is all she could come up with?

NEW JERSEY: THIS IS NOT A SAFE HAVEN….

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

…so why is it being treated as one? The June 11, 2009 online edition of The Packet/CentralJersey.com reports that on May 6, an unidentified woman driving on the New Jersey Turnpike took the Cranbury exit, and dropped off a 6-month old boy at the local police station. He was accompanied by a blanket, diaper bag, baby carrier, bottle, and stroller. Now, anybody who has watched COPS knows that police are a curious bunch. Not so in Cranbury, population 2,008 (2000 census). Police asked the woman no questions, and called DYFS. The abandoner stuck around long enough to “speak to their representative” when the agency picked up the infant. What she had to say is, of course, a state secret. Cranbury police chief Ed Kahler is ecstatic: “The bottom line is at least she had enough forethought to take advantage of Safe Haven and knows that the baby will be taken care of.” Hey, Chief! This is NOT a “safe haven” catch. This is a drive-by abandonment. If Mom (if she is indeed the mom) had enough forethought to dump the kid on the cops, she had enough forethought to drop by a public or private social service or adoption agency Continue Reading →

NEW BRUNSWICK BABY DUMP PROPOSED: ADOPTION COUNCIL OF CANADA OPPOSES!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

There’s a baby dump movement growing in New Brunswick, Canada. Bill 60 has been introduced to make it a reality. Below is the official position statement of The Adoption Council of Canada in opposition to the legislation. Good to have you on board! THE ADOPTION COUNCIL OF CANADA: POSITION STATEMENT ON SAFE HAVEN LEGISLATION (May 22, 2009). The Adoption Council of Canada (ACC) strongly supports policies and practices that protect the safety and health of all children and youth, but we do not believe that safe haven legislation is an effective way to meet this goal. Studies that track abandonment show that safe haven laws have not succeeded in eliminating unsafe, illegal abandonment. Other research suggests that the laws may encourage women to abandon infants who would otherwise have been raised by relatives or placed for adoption through established means. In addition, safe haven legislation deprives one of the biological parents (often the father) of their parenting rights and precludes the abandoned infant from ever knowing his or her genealogical or medical histories. The ACC believes that children have a right to information about their identity (their birth mother, birth father, or other family members; their heritage; their culture; their Continue Reading →

"SAVED" AT THE HOSPITAL

Posted on by — 8 Comments ↓

Remember long ago when “safe havens” were supposed to save newborns from dumpsters? This is the latest from Nick Silverio at in Florida: May 13th, 2009 Dear Friends of “Safe Haven”, A little boy was born this month at a Hospital in North Florida under the “Safe Haven” program. He and his mother were doing very well. This is the one hundred and thirty first (131) baby saved from the dangers of abandonment, from an almost sure death. The mission continues…..saving one life at a time. Sincerely,Nick Silverio How can a baby be born “under a ‘Safe Haven’ program”? “Safe Haven” laws at the very best, were meant as emergency custody procedings and have nothing to do with birth procedures. Now in Florida, at least” it seems there’s a special type of program for those who can’t be bothered–or who are purposefully kept from knowing how– to make a real adoption plan or get real counseling or make real informed consent. Or how to keep their baby. As we warned, baby dumping has become normalized. Just another consumer choice and on the state’s dime to boot. Talk about abuse of a bad law.

ANNOUNCEMENT: SECA–STOP ENCOURAGING CHILD ABANDONMENT

Posted on by — 4 Comments ↓

(Please distribute freely, keeping links intact.) Last Friday, December 5th, 2008, the SECA web-page finally went live. (http://www.stopdumpingkids.com/) SECA, short for “Stop Encouraging Child Abandonment,” is a concept that has been a long time coming. From the first of the legalized child abandonment laws passed in 1999 until now, efforts to repeal and stop the dump laws have suffered from a lack of an alliance dedicated to focusing primarily on the issue. Before SECA, responses to dump laws had been piecemeal, portions of existing organizations’ broader missions. Over the years numerous organizations have opposed and testified against the legalization of child abandonment, and individuals have contacted legislators and worked against legalized child dumping. But, there had been no one place dedicated to dismantling the evolving child abandonment infrastructure. Thus, SECA has finally been created. Stop Encouraging Child Abandonment works toward nothing less than the full and permanent repeal of laws that legalize child abandonment. We feel it is not the proper role of any government to encourage child abandonment as policy. We approach this work firmly grounded in a human/civil/identity rights perspective. We support kids, women, and reproductive autonomy. The need for SECA had become apparent over the past nine Continue Reading →