Student brought abandonment to fore
CITYWIDE — While a parent’s abandoning a newborn child is unusual, some see it as their only recourse, the sole solution to their woes. For them, the Santa Monica Fire Department is here to help.
“When a mother parts with a newborn child, it may be the hard-est decision she may ever make... the worst day of her life,” says SMFD Deputy Chief Bruce Davis. “We will take the baby and make sure it’s safe, with few questions asked.”
In August, the Santa Monica City Council approved city fire stations as “safe surrender sites,” whereby mothers may relinquish custody of a newborn child.
Santa Monica’s approval of the program was intended to make the city more aligned to state and county practices. In September of 2000, then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the Safely Surrendered Law (SB 1368). Under it, a mother who does not want to keep a newborn baby can relinquish it to a fire station or hospital.
The purpose of the program is to provide parents with a last-resort option to ensure a child’s safety. A similar program adopted in 2002 by the Los Angeles County Fire Department has led to the safe surrender of 34 newborns at fire stations and hospitals, officials said. Of those children, 11 have been surrendered at county fire stations, according to city staff.
During the same period, 31 newborns have been abandoned within the county, 24 of whom did not survive.
Davis said no one has yet utilized Santa Monica’s program.
A tragic case of newborn abandonment caused considerable controversy in October. Holly Ashcroft, a 21-year-old USC student, was charged with murder and child abuse after allegedly abandoning her newborn child, with umbilical cord still attached, next to a dumpster that was close to a popular student bar, according to news reports.
An initial autopsy indicated the infant didn’t appear to be injured or abused at the time of abandonment.
The newborn was thought to be full term, according to news reports. “(Ashcroft) could have brought it to a fire station or hospital, and the baby might have been OK,” Davis said. “There is absolutely no reason to give up a child in an area where no one will find it.”
Under the program, a mother has 72 hours to surrender her newborn after giving birth. Any SMFD station will treat the delivery as a paramedic call and conduct an emergency medical assessment of the child before delivering it to a hospital. A mother need only notify the station that she intends to leave the baby. They will ask a few questions to learn more about the baby’s background and condition, but none of the mother’s responses will be used against her.
Meanwhile, if the mother changes her mind and decides to keep the baby, she is given a ribbon, which the baby also wears, identifying mother and child so she can redeem it.
From the hospital, the child would eventually be taken into the custody of Child Protective Services or some other government sanctioned social service group, Davis said.
Representatives from “Safe Place for Newborns” — a nonprofit group which has been advocating the establishment of the safe surrender sites — said there is a sense of isolation among mothers and fathers who abandon a newborn child. The reluctant parents often report being in circumstances in which they believe they are alone. Living in that isolation, they are left to wrestle with problems that they are not psychologically or emotionally equipped to handle, according to the group.
Representatives from Planned Parenthood — a nonprofit group which often provides abortions for mothers who have an unwanted pregnancy — declined to comment on Santa Monica’s newborn abandonment program.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 24, 2005. Read the original PDF.