A safe place to leave unwanted babies A safe place to leave unwanted babies (August 06, 2004)

County outlines specifics of infant abandonment law

By Julie O'Shea

Following two horrific infant deaths in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County officials came together last week to promote a little-known law that allows parents to privately, and anonymously, leave their newborns at hospitals without fear of legal repercussions.

The Safely Surrendered Baby Law (also known as the Safe Haven Law) gives a parent the legal right to surrender a baby within three days of birth to any public or private hospital emergency room in California. Parents who choose this option have 14 days to change their minds and retrieve their baby before the infant is placed in the foster care system or a pre-adoptive home.

El Camino spokesperson Judy Twitchell said by highlighting this law, county officials are taking a preventative step toward ending future infant deaths.

The Safe Haven Task Force came together after the discovery of two dead infants in Palo Alto. On July 18, Ophelia Vanider Hill was arrested on charges of manslaughter and cruelty to a child after an infant was found dead in her apartment. She was later released by authorities because of a lack of evidence.

And on July 8, Maria Ana Quinones was arrested after her baby was found dumped behind the Palo Alto Days Inn, where Quinones worked as a maid. Police allege the 22-year-old mother killed the baby in February.

"Our goal must be: No abandoned babies in Santa Clara County," county Supervisor Liz Kniss said in a statement released Tuesday. "One abandoned baby is too many."

Santa Clara County has a Web page dedicated to the Safe Haven Law at www.sccgov.org. On the site, officials list area hospitals which can receive abandoned infants. In Mountain View, parents can leave their unwanted babies at El Camino Hospital where they will be stabilized by medical staff, and then placed in a temporary foster home.

Lynn Brown, spokesperson for the Mountain View Fire Department, said if parents turned their child over to one of the city's firehouses, officials would not turn the child away, although it generally isn't protocol.

A spokesperson for the city police department said the same is true for the his department. Police, fire and hospital officials added that they can't remember anyone ever dropping a child off under the Safe Haven law in the last decade in Mountain View.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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