After 13 infants were abandoned in the Houston, Texas, area within a 10-month period in 1999, state lawmakers acted to encourage desperate parents to leave their children in a safe location rather than simply abandoning them. Since the Texas law was adopted, 34 more states have enacted so-called "safe haven" laws. All the statutes generally promise that women who relinquish unharmed infants in designated safe places will not be prosecuted or provide that abandonment in compliance with the law constitutes an affirmative defense to prosecution.
So far, the effects of the new laws appear to be limited. Although some newborns have been left at hospitals or police and fire stations, others continue to be found in unsafe places. Serious concerns remain regarding the general lack of research on abandoned babies and their mothers, the implications of these laws on states' adoption and child welfare practices, the rights of the infant's father and the relatively small number of infants involved. Some child welfare experts have expressed concern that the laws do not include an examination of existing statewide child abuse prevention strategies and services for women at risk.
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Approximately 33 babies have been legally relinquished including five each in Texas, Michigan and Alabama, six in New Jersey, four in California, two in Connecticut, Minnesota and Ohio and one each in Kansas and South Carolina. The numbers are approximate because officials in several states reported that they are not officially tracking the numbers of infants or that they had unofficial media counts of infants. Officials in New York, West Virginia and Florida reported that they were not sure that any infants had been relinquished because their laws do not require reporting or tracking that information.
Unfortunately, safe haven legislation has not prevented all cases of unlawful abandonment. Texas reported at least 12 infants have been abandoned illegally since the passage of its law, but the abandonments occurred before the start of a public awareness campaign. None have been abandoned outside safe havens since this publicity. Louisiana reported that five infants have been abandoned illegally since passage of its law. Three babies died, and the parents are being prosecuted. At least five babies were illegally abandoned in California; two more of them were found dead. In Connecticut, one baby was discarded near a highway. Three babies have been abandoned illegally in Colorado. In one case, the mother is attempting to regain custody. Michigan reported nine attempts including one in which a judge ruled that the case was not a safe haven surrender because the parents had not been given enough information on their legal rights.