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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Comments
As someone that was abandoned in a train station, I think that the girl should be punished. I always think how much could my mother have cared for me to leave me in such a public place where any stranger could potentially have taken me home and abused me. In this day and age, in the U.S., if you’re able to carry a baby to term, you should be able to arrange for an adoption, whether open or closed.
I am also personally very against safe haven laws. In my research, safe haven laws seem to encourage irresponsibility for those who may have been more responsible if not given that option. Those who would have abandoned in a dumpster, etc., aren’t going to use safe havens, so safe havens don’t prevent those crimes anyway.
lindsay harrison | 1 year, 11 months ago
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What is wrong with this world....
When is it ever right to leave a baby with a stranger at a bus station? This teen knew what she was doing when she was having sex. We all know having sex means there is a posibility of getting pregnant. If you want to have sex and don’t want to take the precautions of useing birthcontrol then you have to deal with the responsibilities that come along with consequences. I think what she did was wrong and unfair to the child at hand. Think about it…. it wasn’t his fault he was brought into this world. Now he has to go through life not knowing why his mother dropped him off. Or wondering who she is. Or what she looks like? I think if she is found she should be punished. POINT BLANK!!!!!!!!
momma | 1 year, 11 months ago
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Walking a Mile in her Shoes
Have you walked a mile in her shoes? I have, my choices were different. I chose to keep my son and every day was a challenge. However, I am a different person from this young girl and my choices were just as hard to accept the challenges of being a mother at the age of 17, with no help from anyone or family. One of those “we’ll teach you a lesson” situations where the saying was, “ You made your own bed, now lay in it”. At these ages your are not capable of making” right “ choices. You just do the best you can. I agree with what most of you are saying, she didn’t harm the infant. Even though it may leave many questions for the little boy when he grows up, the bigger issue was, she gave him up, hopefully to a safer environment. God put him here for a reason and none of us are qualified to judge another. Praying that the little boy gets a loving home and that his mother gets the help she needs whatever it may be.Sometimes the best words are unspoken, and this may have pained her to no end and again, we don’t know what her situation is. We need to all learn to get along and support one another instead of being so judgmental and critical of one another.
Denise Collins | 1 year, 11 months ago
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My thought
I think that the girl did the right thing. We all can sit here and judge her for her actions. Who are we to do that. The girl was 16 and thought she was doing the right thing. My question is where are her parents. How was she supposed to know what to do when apparently the parents were not there for her. I’m a parent and I know where my kids are at every minute of the day. We just thank God the the person she gave the baby to was a good person. Maybe if she had a good person in here life to help her make the right choices maybe she would not have been in the situation in the first place.
kwtmy3angels | 1 year, 11 months ago
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responsibility?
I’m sorry, Ann. Perhaps you misread the title of this site. It is “The Responsibility Project”, not the “Take The Easier In The Short Term Way Out Project”.
Abortion is not responsible.
As far as the young lady goes, a one-size-fits-all justice system does not. She should be contacted, medical history taken, and counseled on proper behavior. A criminal case is not indicated here.
kevin | 1 year, 11 months ago
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Opinion
In my opinion i believe that this woman could be punished to the full extent to law! why? Simply i dont know for sure but whoever she gave that baby to did she know if it was a pedophile, a mass murder on the run. No she did not, so she could have taken that baby anywhere but into the hands of a stranger on the street! you think about would u want someone u dont even know to have your baby? Think about that
jarron mark smith | 1 year, 11 months ago
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look at it this way
The child is safe right? So maybe the law should step back this time. Now if something may have happened to the child that is different…but are we going to prosecute on a what if? Although that is a double standard..b/c if we did not prosecute the attempted murderers they may come back and actually murder…when does the law apply? At least the girl did the semi-right thing as opposed to putting the baby in the dumpster or worse. I would not press charges, instead I would ask the public to help find out the medical history. Then again the law is NO QUESTIONS ASKED, so even if she went to the hospital or fire station, would we know the baby’s medical history..probably not
Lady MJ | 1 year, 11 months ago
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YOUNG MOMS
I am in fact a 16 year old mom to a 6 month old baby girl. I understand the stress of being a mother. I could not even give up my daughter. But what that girl did was probably out of fear. It was not the safest thing to do because that stranger could have been a child molester or a killer or down right nasty, but what she did was better than abusing or killing her infant and she needs some credit for that.
ARIEL | 1 year, 11 months ago
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In agreement
I completely agree with you. That was the only thought going through my mind when I read about this. It would’ve been much safer for the child to be given to the hospital or fire department. How did she know that baby wasn’t going to end up in the dumpster from the other person?
ALmom | 1 year, 11 months ago
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BABY IN DANGER!!!
This girl gave her baby to a complete stranger! You can’t comment on her fear,you don’t know what her frame of mind was, only she knows that. The person she gave the child to could have taken it home and microwaved it for all we know!
terrance tattrie | 1 year, 11 months ago
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