Gone Baby Gone
At 7:30 on a Monday morning, a teenage girl holding a newborn baby approached a bus stop in Sacramento. The bus stop is only a few miles from the California state capitol building, where a law called the “SSB” was enacted—the safely surrendered baby law. The SSB allows a desperate mother to give up an unwanted baby within three days of birth, no questions asked, no prosecution for child abandonment, and hopefully no infant left in a trash dumpster, the kind of tragic scenario the law was designed to discourage.
So when the teenager—strawberry blond and about 16—appeared at the bus stop and asked a kind stranger to hold her baby while she fixed a bottle, perhaps she thought she was doing the right thing as she slipped away forever…safely surrendering her infant son. The stranger called the police. The police took the 7 pound boy to a hospital, where he was determined to be in good health, one to two days old.
But even though the police initially said the teenager tried to “do the right thing”, the law says she can be arrested and prosecuted for felony child endangerment because the only legally recognized SSB sites in Sacramento are hospital emergency rooms and fire stations. Bus stops don’t qualify. So the police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the teenage mother, who could go to jail for essentially choosing a bus stop over a dumpster.
If doing the right thing in this case wasn’t the legal thing, is the greater failure with the mother or the law?
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Milton
Has anyone seen the movie “Gone Baby Gone?” What do you think was the “reponsible” thing to do?
Matthew | 1 year, 8 months ago
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Change the Law
I feel the teenage mother did the right thing for the infant even though it was not a firehouse or hospital. At least it wasn’t a dumpster or she didn’t murder it. She should not be punished at all. She needs counseling if anything.
Norma Myers | 1 year, 8 months ago
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Gone Baby Gone
I am proud of what this girl did. I think that all too many times we focus on the worst aspect of the situation. If we were to take a step back and look at this situation for what it is, I think that a lot of good could come out of it. We obviously don’t know a single thing about this girl. Was she in an abusive relationship, was she homeless, or could there be something even worse happening to her? We don’t know, therefore I think that we should be thankful as a nation, that instead of simply throwing a baby into a trash can or even killing it, she made probably one of the hardest decisions in her life to give away her baby.
Cori | 1 year, 8 months ago
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Letter of the Wal
In “Gone Baby Gone” the mother did what seems to have been the responsible thing. We are told every week that an infant has been found in a dumpster, woods, you fill in the blank. Great expense and media time have been spent on advertising “safe haven” laws and bringing all our states into the program.
According to the letter of the law, the girl was wrong. The spirit of the law was to protect infants. This child is safe and well. She should not be charged with a felony nor prosecuted. Perhaps there would be a way to offer her the safety net she so desperately needs and, in the process, get some of the child’s medical history for the child’s new parents.
Ruth Armstrong | 1 year, 8 months ago
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gone baby gone
If she knew about this law and purposely violated it then she was at fault. I don’t think she should be charged with a felony, but she shouldn’t get away with it. The scary part of this is she gave this infant to a complete stranger who could have done anything with it. She could have left it at a church, firehouse, hospital, clinic, police station, etc.
terrance tattrie | 1 year, 8 months ago
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GONE BABY GONE
The problem I have with how she did what she did is that she had no idea who or how this stranger really was…thankfully, this stranger was good enough to call the police, but he/she could have taken that baby home and done God knows what with it. I think most laws are put in place to help us, not to hurt us. When the law says the baby should be dropped off at a hospital or fire station, the purpose is to ensure that the situation will be handled properly and safely…
TRUTH HEALZ | 1 year, 8 months ago
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Gone Baby Gone
I completely agree with all you’ve said. We do not know the state of mind of this ‘child’ nor do we know if she’s educated or aware enough to know of (again) the letter of the law.
You’re completely correct in your question of what could have happened but I am still grateful that this infant is safe.
Her judgement was flawed but I believe her intention to be honorable.
Because this type of surrender is still happening we need to revisit how we might address the problem as a society. It is not the responsibility of any one segment but each of us and all of us. Do I have the perfect solution? No, but this type of dialogue might eventually provide a better one.
Ruth Armstrong | 1 year, 8 months ago
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Opportunity to educate
I don’t know that she should be prosecuted, but this is an opportunity for the police to let people know why they should leave the baby with a specified place rather than with just any person on the street. In this case, the baby was left with someone who did the responsible thing and let authorities know that the baby had been abandoned. What if the baby had been left with someone who wasn’t so responsible? There is no telling where the baby may have ended up.
Moms who don’t feel they can care for their babies should know that they will not be in any trouble if they take the baby to a hospital or fire station and that they will give the baby the safest possible place by leaving them there instead of with a stranger.
Thank God things worked out ok in this situation, and of course it’s much better that the baby wasn’t left somewhere to die, but moms should know that there is a better way than this, and if it takes the threat of being found and arrested for not doing the right thing, so be it, but I would prefer a wide-spread campaign to educate people about the law and why it says what it says.
Jennifer Z | 1 year, 8 months ago
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How do we persecute desperation?
This young lady was young. Sweet sixteen and expected to know the laws and follow them in the two days post partum and heaven only knows what that was piled on top of. She did the right thing and every law has a law for that law with a loop hole to jump thru for every loop hole. Somebody save that little girl…after all she saved a life.
Julia | 1 year, 8 months ago
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SHOW MOTHERING LOVE
I think she is responsible and should be held responsible. What happens if something happened to the baby? Like it got hurt or killed by someone else. She should be held responsible.
jessica anderson | 1 year, 8 months ago
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