I just leared this. Somehow I’ve got stuck, for a while at least, as the “department safety coordinator”. So I need to know all kinds of stuff I hope never to use.
WI is a state that allows new parents to give up newborns “no questions asked” at designated “safe zones” like the hospital where I work, fire stations, etc. My desk is one of several in a big reception cubicle, and the cube is one of two places where parents would be directed to. The other place is the emergency room entrance.
This was news to me – I know about the law, and I knew the hospital was a “safe zone” – I just didn’t know that my own desk might get messed up in the process.
Anyway, now I have to develop some little inservice thing about what we actually do if someone drops off a baby. The present writtem procedures are really quite vague, so I’ll ned to hook up with the hospital safety guy to give us more speccifics – who to call, do we need some kind of medical kit available, etc.
As far as I know this kind of abandonment hasn’t happened yet in my hospital or even in my city, but I’m sure it will sooner or later.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’d be THRILLED to be able to cuddle an abandoned baby until someone could place it in a good home. What a cool perk!
Step 1) Bring new baby to safezone in Emergency Room
Step 2) Go back to regularly scheduled work
Step 3) Write procedure for abandon baby process…someday.
If you really want, I know a few people that work in hospitals around here, I can see if I can scrounge up a of their policy/procedure.
Kudos to your state/city for providing that service. Even if it just saves one baby, it is worth it.
I’ve often wondered if just knowing it was available - that if they really couldn’t deal they could leave the child safely - had helped some new young mothers get through some rough spots.
First thing - don’t you need a crib in your office?
Yeah, that’s pretty much what I think the plan should be. Our department MIGHT have medical people there at times, and not at other times. And we have virtually no medical gear beyond basic first aid kits.
Also, I doubt desperate parents will go so far as to ask directions where to go to abandon their baby. It seems far more likely it would be left at an entrance or some other heavy trafic spot.
And thank you Joey P, for that policy. Ours is a little less specific, but similar. Of course, the “no questions asked” part is bullshit, even though the program is promoted that way to the public. Of course we would ask questions, like, “Why have you dropped this baby on my desk?”. Because people do occasionally ask to leave their babies with us briefly while they get coffee or go to the bathroom. I won’t do that for people, but most of my co-workers will.
What the state policy really means is that the parents won’t be detained for abandoning the baby, and the state won’t pursue attempts to identify them and force some accountability on them.
Which makes me wonder what would happen if there was clear evidence of abuse… I suppose I should look at the relevant state law.
[Soapbox]
To keep this program effective, you’ve got to support those that take the option. If you see the person dropping off the baby, look him or her comfortably in the eye and say “Thank you.” Let them know you’ll take care of the little one, and give them confidence the baby will be safe. Put them at ease. It’s a new program in lots of states. Let them take advantage of it–the biggest winner here is the little cherub.
[/Soapbox]
Consider yourself an ambassador to these new little babes. Give 'em the most you can when they arrive.
Tripler
The parents have an option. The wee ones don’t. Give 'em all the comfort you can.
I do understand that I would have an obligation to behave according to the law regardless of my personal revulsion at being suddenly thrust into the role of infant care taker – being single, never married, and childless.
Oh, man I got a huge chuckle out of this when I misread it as “Let Dogs check out the baby” and thought you were referring to bomb-sniffing dogs. And then I thought, “Oh man, if this baby is booby-trapped, I am dead meat.” I am the only man in a department of 15 people, and every one of those 14 women is married and has children. Half of them are nurses. The cops, or the post-bomb cleanup squad, either one, would have to pry that kid out of their cold, or perhaps still sizzling, dead hands. The baby might risk being smothered with affection if enough of them are around.
I’m glad you’re going to do this. 45+ years ago there were no programs like this in place.
I actually know two adults who were abandoned as children. One was a guy I went to church with when I was a teenager. He and his sister were found in a laundromat and eventually adopted. He was a baby when his mom abandoned him, and quite sick. As a result, finding an adoptive home for he and his sister wasn’t easy, but one was eventually found and they nurtured him through all of the corrective surgeries he needed. I haven’t seen him in years, but the last time I spoke with him he was interested in finding his birth mother.
My ex-sister in law is the other person. She and her sister were found wandering around New Orleans as toddlers. She has a few vague, fuzzy memories of her birth mother and has no interest in looking for her.
As an adoptive and former foster mom, I have nothing but admiration for the birth mothers who make the choice to relinquish their children because they recognize they cannot provide or care for them. My life has been blessed beyond measure by women like the ones you may meet, so if you’re ever put in the situation of accepting a child through the voluntary relinquishment program, please treat her with the utmost compassion and respect.
Is there someone at your desk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? If not, I would suggest to your superior that the Emergency room entrance be the only drop off point, or that a secondary point be identified that also has 24/7 staffing. If the emergency entrance is clearly marked and identified to parents arriving to drop off a baby as the appropriate place to do so, and that trained staff is always available, why should a second location be needed at all? Perhaps it will still be your responsibility to execute procedures regarding a drop off, but what is the point of having a baby drop off point in the middle of an office?
I’m thinking that this might be another question that I’ll have to incorporate in my job search - “Is there any chance that I will have abandoned babies left on my desk?”
That said, I think allowing parents to give up their unwanted babies question- and consequence-free is a fabulous idea. If they are self-aware enough to know they can’t handle being parents, I say let them walk away from it for the sake of the baby’s safety.
Agreed… But I wonder what happens a few years down the road when the parent wants the baby back. Cecil had a recent column about sperm and egg donors that touched on that issue, and it seemed that the biological parents usually always got custody. I hope this is a situation that would be an exception to the rule. If the parent gives up the child for a chance at a better life (for the baby) then records should be shredded to prevent the parent from trying to get the kid back.
And of course, he’ll need a “Baby Outbox” as well.
These programs are used. Here’s a headline from today’s Albuquerque Journal:
UNMH Employee Rescues Baby Born in Road Behind Hospital
Baby Girl Doe had a rough beginning: Her mother gave birth to her Saturday while standing in the road behind the University of New Mexico Hospital…Mora [the UNM hospital worker that helped bring in the baby] ripped off her sweatshirt and crawled under the car, where she saw a baby squirming. Cupping the newborn in her hands to keep from scraping her on the pavement, Mora pulled her out and wrapped her in the sweatshirt…Within minutes, the mother and baby were in the emergency room. But the mother left quickly without giving her name, leaving Baby Girl Doe at the hospital.
In February this year, someone dropped off a baby on the doorstep at a nursing home in Portland, Oregon.
There was much media discussion whether a nursing home qualifies as a dropoff location, as well as a legal “no questions asked” means you have to deliver the infant directly to another person, or not. In this case, the infant was left outside of the external door and found early in the morning. It was cold the previous night.
The baby was in need of medical help and there was a media call for the mother to come forward. At the same time, there were additional media reports that if she did not come forth, she might faces charges of child abandonment. So much for no question asked.
During the entire time this was in the news, none of the major media outlets explained the Oregon law, nor clarified whether leaving an infant a nursing home (and the manner in which it was left) was protected under the law. IMHO, the media probably screwed it up for any other scared shitless mother or potential scared shitless mother willing to give up their child for whatever reason known only to them.
