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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Assistant property manager
I think that what is being ignored here is the fact that no one actually knows what was going through the mother’s mind at the time. In fact, no one knows if she had good intentions whatsoever. She could have, in this case, just given up her child on a whim, rather than the alternative; carefully plan to give her child away. It seems to me that to call this act “responsible” is rather silly as this was a highly irresponsible act. If I had to guess, this was not planned out. This, to me, appears to be a mother who for whatever reason decided then and there that she could not handle the care of the young child. Therefore, my guess is that she improvised in the moment, and the child luckily ended up with a kind stranger. No one knows if the mother went out that day attempting to leave her child. She could have made that decision at the bus stop. Therefore, I believe that she was not following the intent of the law aforementioned, and should be punished in some way shape or form.
Charles McKinley | 4 months, 1 week ago
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Are you nuts?
Yeah, leaving a newborn with some stranger who could have potentially been a rapist or murderer for all we know, takes courage. This girl was irresponsible to the fullest extent. She didn’t care about the baby to leave it with some random person she didn’t know. She just didn’t want to be charged with murder. Clearly, she was a coward and she should have known that what she was doing was wrong. Anyone with half a brain knows that you need to bring abandoned children to the hospital or fire station so they can be properly cared for. What will this child think when he/she is ten years old and discovers it’s mother just left him with some stranger when he was 1 or 2 days old?
Stephanie Hockeborn | 4 months ago
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No harm done
The baby was in safe hands I mean COME ON she CHOSE NOT to abort or leave her baby in a dumpster for Pete’s sake ! the baby is FINE what is the world comming to when a teenage mother who CHOSE to keep her pregnacy who CHOSE to give up her baby for a better life? I was born when my mother was 16 too there’s NOTHING wrung with this picture I’m just guessing but maybe the guy dressed like a CEO ? not exactly a child abuser or maybe he had a wedding ring on and was looking at pictures of his own children ? he was respolisble and took the infant to a hospital where is was PROVEN he was in PERFECT health clearly she cared about her child so why are we trying to put her behind bars for ! it’s a crime
Nikki | 3 months, 3 weeks ago
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Scared, alone, young...
What would you do if you were in her situation being a teenage who just had a baby? I agree with alot of the postings on here we dont know her situation we dont know what she was going through but I do know that when after having a baby your not always clear headed but at least she didnt throw her baby away or kill it! At sixteen years old I dont think she is expected in knowing the laws, I sure didnt know the laws ESPECIALLY about children at sixteen! I think she should be left alone and not charged for this, its really dumb because she did what she thought was best at the time in her state of mind for just having a baby.
Elizabeth Powell | 3 months, 2 weeks ago
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The mother
She knew from the hospital or where ever she gave birth that she did not want to be a mother. So that being said she should go to jail, suppose that kind person was a child molester, homicidal maniac, or god knows what. The guilt she would have carried from that would have been greater than just abandoning an unwanted child.
ilene bonner | 3 months ago
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I am no good
Please help me
Karol Andrade | 1 month, 2 weeks ago
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That chick
I think the actions was wrong for this young girl. I understand she probably was confused and didn’t know who to turn to. BUT I think she should have took the baby to the local hospital or to a police station. You have to think what if that baby was your neice or nephew or someone related to you
Adrina Bell-Warren | 3 weeks, 2 days ago
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