Friday February 2, 2007 SGN.org |
 |
Volume 35 Issue 05 |
 |
|
Monday, Oct 06, 2008
|
 |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||
|
With open arms |
|
 |
|
| With open arms | |
|
by State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles -
Special to the SGN It breaks the heart to hear about newborns left in a dumpster or behind in a motel room, often by a desperate teenager. What ever was the poor mother thinking about? And how truly tragic for the child who was given no chance -- no chance -- at a start in life. Every child deserves to be cared for and loved, no matter how he or she was born. It is why, in 2002, I introduced the Newborn Infant Safety Act. This law gives parents safe places -- hospitals and staffed fire stations -- to leave a newborn up to the age of 72 hours. No questions are asked and there is no possibility of arrest for abandonment or endangerment. If a parent wants to leave information about his or her medical history or about the pregnancy, it can be done without coercion or questioning, but it's not required. All I wanted was an attended setting with trained medical staff to accept a newborn. The law also requires that the receiving staff give the newborn to the custody of state Child Protective Services for potential follow-up and then placement with a foster family. But I am concerned that the law doesn't reach all those who could benefit, especially parents in more remote parts of the state, where it could be a trip of many miles to reach a hospital or even a staffed fire station. So this session I introduced Senate Bill 5425, which would add federally designated medical clinics to the list of places where a newborn can be brought. It would also direct the state Department of Social and Health Services to track the number and medical condition of surrendered newborns. It's a heart wrenching decision to give up a child. I want to make sure that a parent can do so without fear of prosecution and harm to the newborn. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles represents the 36th Legislative District. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
International Readers read the SGN in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish |
|
 |
|
 For more info & to sign up: email aniab@llaa.org or call 206.328.8979 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 post your own information on Seattle Gay Blog |
|
 |
copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2006