Tuesday, August 08, 2000
'Safe Place' aims to save infants
By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The image haunts Lockland Police Chief Ken Johnson to this day: the sight of a baby boy's lifeless eyes staring up from a pile of garbage.
“His neck was broken. His eyes were open. And there was trash all around him. It's something I don't think you'll ever forget,” Chief Johnson said.
Investigating that crime scene touched the chief so deeply that he sought legal guardianship over the boy's body. He led an effort to arrange a Christian burial, to give the child a headstone and a name: Nicholas Independence.
That was five years ago. On Monday, a collection of Hamilton County hospitals, child service and law enforcement agencies an nounced a plan that may reduce the chances of more babies suffering Nicholas Independence's fate.
The program, a “Secret, Safe Place for Newborns,” is among dozens of similar efforts nationwide to offer desperate parents an alternative to killing or abandoning their children.
Effective immediately, parents can take a baby less than 3 days old to any hospital emergency department in Hamilton County, hand the baby to any staff member wearing a hospital ID, and walk away.
As long as the baby appears unharmed, no hospital staff person will ask for the parents' names. No police agency or prosecutor in Hamilton County will press child abandonment charges.
No questions will be asked at all, except a request to disclose any known health
problems or family history of disease. Even that information will be dropped in the interest of providing a safe place for the infant.
For now, only Hamilton County hospitals and law enforcement agencies are participating. But because the program is anonymous, it doesn't matter where the parents live.
Hospitals will examine the baby, treat the child if needed, then turn the child over to the Hamilton County Department of Human Services.
“Adoption is still the preferred choice for a woman who doesn't want her baby,” said Colleen Gerwe, section chief for children's services at the Hamilton County Department of Human Services.
“This program is really aimed at a very small population of mothers, and perhaps fathers, who are in crisis right now and not in a position to make many choices.”
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services documented 105 abandoned babies nationwide, including 33 that were found dead. However, the exact number of abandoned babies may never be known because some bodies are never found.
Since the case in Lockland, Chief Johnson said he has been contacted by 20 to 25 women who wanted to put their babies in his care. He said he believes nearly all eventually put their babies up for traditional adoption.
The Cincinnati program was modeled after a similar program in Mobile, Ala., launched in November 1998.
Thirteen states, including Indiana, have passed bills allowing women to avoid prosecution if they drop babies at hospitals, according to the Hamilton County sponsors. A law in New York took effect July 18.
Another 23 states, including Ohio, are considering such a bill. A proposal in Kentucky failed in its last legislative session.
Earlier this year, Lockland officials approved plans to build a park in memory of Nicholas Independence. An architect has been selected. The land awaits an environmental inspection.
“It's finally coming together,” Chief Johnson said.
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