October 5, 2000
Rescue efforts target abandoned babies and their mothers
Esther M. Bauer
(ANS) -- A year-old Texas law that allows mothers to give up their unwanted newborns -- no questions asked -- has prompted 13 other states to pass similar legislation, as well as raising questions about whether this strategy is really effective in stemming the flow of abandoned babies.
No one knows how many babies are abandoned each year, because states don't track such statistics. The only nationwide study ever conducted, in 1986, estimated that 20,860 babies were abandoned that year, but since that study by the Denver-based American Humane Association, no other statistics have been made available except for estimates based on news stories and an unpublished 1998 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That report concluded 105 babies nationwide were abandoned in public places -- with 33 found dead. A total of 31,000 newborns were left in hospitals by their mothers that year.
A series of public service announcements was launched recently in Texas to help stop the continuing problem of baby abandonment by publicizing the terms of the state's groundbreaking Baby Moses law. The law allows mothers to give up their unwanted, unharmed infants within 30 days of birth without fear of criminal prosecution. The babies, however, must be surrendered to emergency services personnel at fire stations or hospitals. Mothers who follow the common practice of leaving them in alleys and other places -- 50 of the estimated 800 newborns abandoned in Texas last year were tossed into trash bins -- are not protected by the law.
Supporters say publicity is key to saving more babies, and the ad campaign promotes the law in English and Spanish under the theme, "The best place for a baby is with the mother. But if you can't do the best thing, do the right thing." The campaign initially targets pregnant teen-agers but eventually will be expanded to child-bearing females of all ages and socioeconomic groups who exhibit behavior that puts them at risk of abandoning their babies.
Those warning signs include irrational denial of their pregnancy and then panicky terror when the baby is born. The only common denominator among such women seems to be that they are female, fertile and fearful.
"The public service announcements are just starting to come out, and we believe that will be the solution. The public just needs to know more about it," said Texas Rep. Geanie W. Morrison, who sponsored the Baby Moses law and then set up the Baby Moses Project foundation to help publicize it. The name reflects the biblical story of Moses' mother, who placed him adrift in a basket to save his life.
The ads are a year ahead of schedule, said Morrison, who proposed the legislation without funding in order to ensure its passage last year. She hopes to secure state funds in the next legislative session – one year hence, since the Texas Legislature meets in alternating years.
But Texas Land Commissioner David Dewhurst has made the current publicity possible by using his personal funds to challenge print, radio and television media to donate one public service announcement for each ad he purchases. So far, he has spent more than $120,000 on the ads, with the media more than matching it.
"I was horrified when I learned about the tragedy of infant abandonment occurring nearly daily in Texas. The babies are being left behind by desperate mothers who think there is no safe alternative," Dewhurst said.
The ads provide an answer to these women at their most desperate moment, Morrison said. "They can leave their baby at a fire station or a hospital. The baby will be safe, they can remain anonymous and they won't be prosecuted."
The strategy behind such laws, though admirable, is misguided, said Debbe Magnusen, founder of the Orange County, Calif.-based Project Cuddle, a nationwide volunteer group that has rescued 269 babies in the last four years -- five in Houston -- from mothers comprising all socioeconomic levels. Some mothers were as young as 12 and others as old as 44. Drugs were rarely an issue. Some conceived through rape or incest. Most were single and already had a child. Many were under threat of being kicked out by their families if they became pregnant again.
"Lawmakers don't have a clue as to who these girls are," Magnusen said. "The difference between our program and these laws is that we work with them and encourage accountability and responsibility. By doing that we end up with girls who walk away with head held high because we help them find alternatives."
Assistance includes hand-holding, helping them obtain prenatal care or locating a shelter if their families reject them. "One girl was thrown out in her pajamas along with her two children," said Magnusen, 44, who, with her husband, raised two children, adopted five others and foster-parented more than 30 drug-exposed babies. She founded Project Cuddle in hopes of saving abandoned babies, receiving her first call less than 12 hours after setting up a toll-free crisis hot line: 88-TO-CUDDLE.
"Within four days I was coaching that mother in her delivery instead of seeing another article in the news that a baby was abandoned in the park," Magnusen said. "We not only saved the baby but the mother as well. Her other child still resides with her, and the new baby was adopted by an infertile couple -- a happy ending to what could have been a very tragic story."
Her chief criticism of the spate of baby-rescue laws -- 16 additional states have proposed such legislation -- is that they seem to promote abandonment while missing the point that the targets of the law "simply don't trust the system" not to prosecute. "The girls think there has to be a gimmick because it's authority," she said. "The girls trust the nonprofit sector. My prayer is that they (lawmakers) would turn the hot lines over to us. I think we would have more success."
Morrison believes legislatively inspired programs and nonprofits such as Project Cuddle both have a place in rescuing babies. "We are trying to help these mothers make a decision when the baby is born and most at risk. They have been in denial; they want the situation gone right now. They (Project Cuddle) are saying 'intercede early.' Neither approach is wrong," Morrison said.
Morrison discounts other critics who say babies anonymously dropped off to authorities face a lifetime of not knowing who they are. "I'd much rather a child be raised without a medical record or an identity rather than end up dead in a Dumpster," she said.
Texas may be the first state to pass a baby-rescue law, but Alabama began a regional program in 1998 after a Mobile-based TV reporter, distraught over the number of news stories about abandoned babies, started a program to address the problem locally. Since Alabama passed its baby-abandonment legislation, five infants have been rescued. Soon after New Jersey passed its law, a mother took advantage of the law to surrender her newborn.
The notion of providing safe havens for foundlings is far from new. Predating the 16th century, Catholic churches and convents had either laundry-chute devices or Lazy-Susan receptacles for babies, usually the offspring of the poor. The devices safely deposited the babies inside these religious sanctuaries, away from prowling animals, errant humans or the bite of the weather.
"These were safe places to relinquish a child without the scrutiny of society. The laundry chute was an alternative to drowning. It was a pretty altruistic concept that recognized not everyone is prepared to be a parent," said Marvin Ventrell, executive director of the Denver-based National Association of Counsel for Children, who considers the current flurry of laws a welcome return to the practicality of the past.
"The whole concept of child protection is not about parental punishment," Ventrell said. "But I don't know if the word is getting out to the moms who need it."
Statistics on baby-rescue laws
(ANS) -- States with baby-rescue laws already on the books are Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
States that have proposed similar legislation but not yet approved such laws include California, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington and Virginia.
States where local baby-rescue programs are already in place or which are considering legislation include Wisconsin, Mississippi, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Mexico.
© COPYRIGHT 2000 The American News Service
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Esther M. Bauer is a Dallas-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe and Reuters news service.
Contacts:
State Rep. Geanie W. Morrison, R-District 30, Victoria, Texas, 512-463-0456.
Justin Unruh, project director, the Baby Moses Project, Victoria, Texas, 361-578-6694; e-mail: bmp@babymoses.org; Web site: www.babymoses.org
Debbe Magnusen, founder, Project Cuddle, Orange County, Calif., 888-628-3353; e-mail; cuddle1@ix.netcom.com; Web site: www.projectcuddle.org
David Dewhurst, Texas land commissioner, Austin, Texas, 512-475-1443; e-mail: david.dewhurst@glo.state.tx.us; Web site: www.glo.state.tx.us
Richard Wexler, executive director, National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, Alexandria, Va., 703-212-2006; e-mail: info@NCCPR.org; Web site: www.nccpr.org
Marvin Ventrell, executive director, National Association of Counsel for Children, Denver, Colo., 888-828-6222, ext. 4; e-mail: advocate@NACCchildlaw.org; Web site: www.naccchildlaw.org
Background:
Dr. John Richardson, vice president, Baby Moses Project Foundation, member of the Cook Children’s Physician Network of Cook Children's Hospital, pediatrician for the Gladney Center for Adoption, Fort Worth, Texas; Web site: www.gladney.org
National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, Washington, D.C., 800-394-3366; e-mail: Nccanch@calib.com. Web site: www.calib.com/nccanch
American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, Web site: http://www.abanet.org/child/home2.html
Online information and links on legal issues affecting children, criminal justice and civil liberties.
National Association of Child Advocates, Washington, D.C., 202.289.0777; e-mail: naca@childadvocacy.org; Web site: www.childadvocacy.org
National network of nonprofit, multi-issue, nonpartisan state and local child advocacy organizations working to ensure children's safety and security.
Resources for Child Advocates Web site: www.umsl.edu/~cmc/resource.htm
Maintained by the Citizens for Missouri's Children, the Web site contains links to many national and state children's adovocacy groups, government agencies, and sources for research and data on children and family issues.
U. S. Children’s Bureau statistics Web site: www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cb
FedStats Online Web site: www.fedstats.gov
Links and online source for national and regional data compiled from more than 70 federal agencies. Includes an index, keyword search function, agency and program breakouts and links to agencies outside the United States.