June 26, 2008

BY PATRICK GUINANE
pguinane@nwitimes.com
INDIANAPOLIS | Two of the six children saved by Indiana’s Safe Haven law shared birthday cake in the Statehouse rotunda Wednesday to commemorate the law’s eighth anniversary.

State legislators approved the 2000 law shortly after an abandoned infant froze to death just yards away from the emergency room entrance of an Indianapolis hospital. The Safe Haven Infant Protection Act allows a distressed parent to give up an unwanted child fewer than 45 days old without prosecution by bringing it to a hospital emergency room, fire house or police station.

“Passing this legislation eight years ago was the right action to take,” said Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman. “I think that’s evidenced by these precious children around us here today.”

On hand to mark the anniversary and enjoy some angel food cake with blue and white frosting were Austin, a red-haired 3-year-old boy adopted by an Elkhart couple, and Natalie, a 4-year-old girl taken in by a Fort Wayne couple. Natalie was given up in 2004 by a Fort Wayne college student who, while pregnant, attended a seminar on Indiana’s Save Haven law, said Bob Floyd, director of the National Safe Haven Alliance in Indiana.

While official figures or regional statistics are not available, the alliance has documented six children saved by Indiana’s Safe Haven law. Meanwhile, 20 infants have been abandoned illegally in Indiana since 2000, with seven of those cases resulting in death, according to the alliance.

Without following Indiana’s Safe Haven law, abandoning an infant can result in a neglect of dependant charge, a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. If the child is injured or killed as result of the abandonment, the punishment could exceed 20 years in prison.

In 2001, Illinois legislators passed a law allowing distressed parents to bring an unwanted newborn up to seven days old to a hospital, fire house, police station or emergency care facility with no questions asked. The Illinois Abandoned Newborn Protection Act has saved the lives of 41 newborns, state officials said earlier this year.

All 50 states have some form of the Safe Haven law, the first of which was adopted by Texas in 1999. The laws are believed to have saved more than 1,000 infants nationwide

On Wednesday, state Sen. Jim Merritt, an Indianapolis Republican who authored Indiana’s law, debuted a public service announcement promoting the program. Television stations across the state are being asked to air the ad.

“The last thing we want to do is encourage parents to give up their children,” Merritt said. “However, for the few who have exhausted all their options and don’t know where else to turn, the Safe Haven law provides a back-up plan to keep their child safe.”