Last week a newborn baby was found in Syracuse by a 6-year-old girl who was playing hide-and-seek with her grandmother.
The baby still had the umbilical chord attached when it was found in the bushes near a community basketball court. Under the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, parents unable to care for their newborns can leave the child in a public place, without consequence.
The unfortunate situation has started a debate as to whether or not the baby was left in an appropriate location, and condition. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, of Fabius, sponsored the Abandoned Infant Protection Act in 2000, when she was a state senator.
Hoffman claims the parents of this baby should be protected under the law because the baby was found in a residential area, in a timely fashion.
But I don't know that a “wooded area” is necessarily a public place.
Either way, the law is way too vague.
As written, a person can technically leave a baby anywhere where an adult is sure to find it immediately. But that doesn't mean that whomever happens to stumble across the child will be decent or equipped to make a sound decision as to what to do next. It also assumes a lot of the general public in terms of charity. There are people out there who would turn their backs, unwilling to get involved.
If we're going to make it okay to abandon an infant, at least leave the child in the hands of a professional with emergency medical experience.
A police station, fire station or hospital should be among the only acceptable locations to strand a newborn.
If anonymity is a concern, New York's Office of Children and Family Services runs a 24-hour phone line that provides information about the law.
A parent should at least have the decency to arrange to have the baby picked up.
I suspect that people might be less sympathetic toward the parents if this infant had died, alone in the brush.
As it is, this child was left in a horribly dangerous situation within the first hours of life.
Bottom line; It shouldn't be legal to leave an unwanted baby under a bush without any accountability.
Estabrook's column appears
Mondays and she can be reached at estabrookcarole@yahoo.com
The unfortunate situation has started a debate as to whether or not the baby was left in an appropriate location, and condition. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, of Fabius, sponsored the Abandoned Infant Protection Act in 2000, when she was a state senator.
Hoffman claims the parents of this baby should be protected under the law because the baby was found in a residential area, in a timely fashion.
But I don't know that a “wooded area” is necessarily a public place.
Either way, the law is way too vague.
As written, a person can technically leave a baby anywhere where an adult is sure to find it immediately. But that doesn't mean that whomever happens to stumble across the child will be decent or equipped to make a sound decision as to what to do next. It also assumes a lot of the general public in terms of charity. There are people out there who would turn their backs, unwilling to get involved.
If we're going to make it okay to abandon an infant, at least leave the child in the hands of a professional with emergency medical experience.
A police station, fire station or hospital should be among the only acceptable locations to strand a newborn.
If anonymity is a concern, New York's Office of Children and Family Services runs a 24-hour phone line that provides information about the law.
A parent should at least have the decency to arrange to have the baby picked up.
I suspect that people might be less sympathetic toward the parents if this infant had died, alone in the brush.
As it is, this child was left in a horribly dangerous situation within the first hours of life.
Bottom line; It shouldn't be legal to leave an unwanted baby under a bush without any accountability.
Estabrook's column appears
Mondays and she can be reached at estabrookcarole@yahoo.com
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