Rep. Linehan Promotes Education on Safe Haven Law

From the Connecticut General Assembly: In honor of the second annual Safe Havens Awareness Day on April 4, State Rep. Liz Linehan (D-Cheshire/Southington/Wallingford) is promoting public education on Connecticut’s Safe Havens law.

Since its passage in 2000, Connecticut’s Safe Havens law has saved 27 infants from abandonment and near certain death. According to the Department of Children and Families, Bradley Memorial Hospital in Southington took in an infant through the Safe Havens law in January of 2016.

“The Safe Havens law has been a great success in saving newborn babies from abandonment and death. Only a little over a year ago, Bradley Memorial Hospital took in a baby through this life-saving law,” Rep. Linehan said. “The goal is for every expecting parent to know this option exists. Sadly, we have still seen the abandonment and death of newborns in recent years, making it critical we continue to educate the public about this law.”

The Safe Havens law helps prevent the crime of neonaticide by allowing anyone to drop off a newborn baby (30 days old or younger) at any hospital emergency room in Connecticut. The person dropping off the baby will be given a bracelet matching one put on the infant by hospital staff.

The police will not be called and no one will be arrested, assuming the infant has not been abused. If the parents of the child change their minds within 30 days, they may petition to get the baby back.

Despite the law’s success, incidents in recent years have shown a need for continued public awareness efforts. Four babies, all of whom survived, have been found abandoned since 2000. Two arrests have been made in recent years – in Danbury in 2007 and in East Hartford in 2014 – for the death of a newborn baby.

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