Publicize Newborn Law, Report Urges

Babies may be dying because their young mothers don’t know about a state law allowing them to legally give up newborns within 72 hours of birth, according to an Orange County Grand Jury report issued Monday. “Lack of awareness ... by the mother could be a contributing factor in child abandonment and homicide,” the seven-page report says.

Although the report does not say how many babies have died under those circumstances, it calls for such statistics to be compiled and for a public-awareness campaign about the new law.

“One avenue could be through public-service radio advertisements on stations listened to by adolescents,” the report suggests. “Other possibilities could include signs on buses and bus kiosks and other places frequented by teens.”

The Safe Arms for Newborns Law, which took effect Jan. 1, 2001, allows the parent or guardian of a child up to 72 hours old to surrender the newborn anonymously to a public or private hospital emergency room without fear of prosecution. “We were very concerned that the information wasn’t getting out,” said Peter Carter, chairman of the grand jury’s human services committee, which issued the report.

In Orange County, Orangewood Children’s Home has been designated a receiving facility for unwanted infants. Although the staffs at Orangewood and hospital emergency rooms seem well-versed on the law, mothers of unwanted newborns do not seem to be, according to the report.

That was underscored by interviews with county officials, who said they recalled at least eight cases of infant abandonment, the report said, including one in which a baby was left on a roof and another in which an infant was left in an office filing cabinet.

“These deaths were particularly disturbing,” the report says.

Among the report’s recommendations: that brochures, including an existing one, “Don’t Throw Your Baby Away,” be placed in drugstores, school offices and other appropriate places; that the materials indicate the willingness of hospitals to accept or redirect newborns to other sites, or act as a referral service for women who want to give up older babies; and that a planned media-awareness campaign canceled by the Orange County Social Services Agency be resurrected.

“We hope the information will be disseminated to mothers who would put their babies in harm’s way,” Carter said. “We want them to know that there are agencies willing to accept their babies.”