Illinois Safe Haven Law

Many in the legal community do not and this is a chance to make a life or death difference. By Dawn Geras At an event that I recently attended there were hundreds of lawyers and dozens of judges in attendance. I had the opportunity to ask if they knew about the Illinois “Safe Haven law”. Does it surprise you to learn that many did not? Let me ask: DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE LAW? The Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act became effective on August 17, 2001. The Act, often referred to as the Safe Haven law, allows a parent to anonymously relinquish an unharmed newborn up to 30 days old to a staff member at a designated safe haven. Safe havens in Illinois are hospitals, emergency medical facilities, fire houses, police stations and county sheriff stations that have staff present. All designated safe havens are required to have a safe haven sign posted in a conspicuous place on the exterior of the building. Maybe you have seen this sign and wondered what it was about. The law is intended to save the lives of the youngest, most vulnerable among us: newborn babies. It provides parents who might otherwise abandon a newborn in a dumpster or other unsafe place with a responsible, legal and anonymous option. The law is simple and it works. 60 babies have been safely and legally relinquished under the law since it was enacted nearly nine years ago. Tragically, 61 other babies were unsafely and illegally abandoned. So unsafely abandoned, that 30 of them did not survive. Why isn’t the law working for more babies? How many more innocent lives will be lost? Again, ask yourself, did YOU know about the law? The problem is that most people still don’t. If an intelligent person like you didn’t know, how can we expect those who need this information to know that this option exists? Who needs to know about the law? Everyone. Babies are illegally and unsafely discarded by parents of all ages, races and socioeconomic backgrounds.