CHILDREN LEFT BEHIND ACTS
In the days following the Jan. 14 discovery of a dead infant left in a bag in front of a Bronx church, the discussion in the media has once again briefly turned back to the city's "Baby Safe Haven" program. This tragedy could have been averted, the Daily News (and others) crowed, if only these kids had taken advantage of Safe Haven.
We have our doubts about that.
Signed into law with some ballyhoo back in 2000, the Safe Haven program allows parents who are, for whatever reason, unable to care for a newborn child to leave it at a hospital, a firehouse, a church or with some other responsible party. No questions will be asked, the promise goes, and no charges will be filed. The child will be cared for, and the parents will be free.
It sounds like a godsend to all those desperate mothers out there. So why is it that five years after being signed into law, we're still hearing about newborns being found in trash bags and alleyways when a simple solution that protects both the baby and the mother is right there?
Program directors say it's because not enough people know about it, that word hasn't been properly spread. But we don't think that's it-there's been a mountain of publicity, both via the press and public service ads. And every time another baby is found, people talk about it some more.
The problem, more likely, can be seen in what's happened to those people who have actually tried to take advantage of the program.
We've all seen it time and again over the past five years. A baby is abandoned at a hospital or a church, and what's the first response? Of course-a police manhunt spreads out across the city to find the mother. When they do find her, she faces child endangerment charges or worse. And on top of all that, she's pilloried in newspaper editorials.
In short, the program, nice as it sounds, falls a bit short when it comes to living up to its promises, and that's a much more likely reason why no one takes advantage of it. They're afraid, just like these two kids were afraid. Afraid of being tracked down like a dog, afraid of getting busted, afraid of being hurt because they got into something way over their heads.
If the city is serious about wanting to save and protect these otherwise doomed infants, we suggest they start helping the program keep its word. As things stand, the real problem with Safe Haven is that there clearly is no Safe Haven to be found here.